The Deepest of Ties
by angelrider13
Summary: They are everything. They are friends, brothers, lovers, soulmates. They are exact opposites. They are the same being divided in two. They are love and hate, pure and tainted. They are everything. Soulmate!verse. AceLu.
1. Halo

**Hello, everyone!  
**

**So a couple of people who read The Pure and the Tainted asked for another chapter, more AceLu, ect. So. This was born! The Deepest of Ties is going to be a collection of one-shots from what I'm calling the Soulmate!verse. These one-shots will take place anywhere in the time line, from early childhood to years in the future. Some one shots will be sad, some will be fluffy. Some will focus on Ace, some on Luffy, some on both. Some will be a slight AU within the Soulmate!verse if I come up with an alternate series of events that could have happened.  
**

**So.  
**

**This is the first chapter.  
**

**In this one, we're going to pretend that the Straw Hats have never seen Luffy's Angel form before. Okay? Okay. It takes place sometime after the events of The Pure and the Tainted.  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: Still own nothing.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Halo~**_

_The Straw Hats learn the hard way why you should never, **ever **remove an Angel's halo._

* * *

Nami walks up onto the deck stretching and covering a yawn. She's always one of the first up, Sanji being the first so that he can have breakfast ready by the time everyone manages to drag themselves out of bed. The navigator can hear the sounds of said meal being prepared and gets read to make her way to the library to get some work done before it's time to eat.

She stops however, when she sees her captain standing by the rail.

Luffy is _never_ up this early. Ever.

Curious, she changes direction and heads for the rubber pirate. As she gets closer, she notices that his precious straw hat is dangling from his neck and in its usual place on his head is a golden circlet. Her brows furrow in disapproval; Luffy knows he's not allowed in the treasure room.

"Luffy," she says pleasantly through clenched teeth when she reaches her captain.

Luffy turns at her voice and Nami pauses for a moment when she catches a glimpse of his half-lidded, sleepy, _silver_ eyes. She brushes it off as a trick of the light.

"Did you get that crown out of the treasure room?" she asks sweetly.

Luffy blinks at her, a slow, drawn out movement, before his normal, blinding grin splits his face. "Yeah!" he says excitedly, like she's just promised him a treasure map to a chest full of meat.

Nami gives an exasperated sigh. "You know you're not supposed to go in there," she scolds, still not quite awake enough for a full-blown explosion. Maybe right before breakfast. She reaches up and slips the gold circlet off Luffy's head. "Now I'm going to take this back and because I have to go through the log books to find out exactly what you've taken, I'm adding 50,000 beli to your debt."

She is so caught up in her rant, that she doesn't notice the way Luffy's silver eyes go wide. Doesn't notice that as soon as the gold band leaves his head, they go dull and lifeless. Doesn't notice the momentary spark of panic and fear before it's locked under a dead mask.

And by the time she walks away, gold in hand, it's already too late.

* * *

Luffy is having the best dream _ever_.

At least he's pretty sure it's a dream. Because Sanji is _never_ this nice.

But he can figure all of that out later.

The blond chef is making him anything he wants. Which is obviously meat. There's so much of it he can't reach the top of the pile even with his rubber arms, so he uses his wings instead. And when reaches the top, he decides this is the best meat mountain _ever_.

"Hey, Luffy!" Sanji calls from somewhere below, "You want some more meat?"

"Yeah!" Luffy calls back with a grin.

He's in heaven; he has meat and he's flying higher than everything else in the world. It's perfect.

Suddenly, he chokes and there's a stabbing pain in his chest, like a sword was just thrust through his heart. The air rushes from his lungs and then he's falling, wings crumbling to ashes. He hits the ground hard. His eyelids feel heavy and it's hard to keep them open; he can't move, can't feel his arms or legs. His wings are gone and panic starts to build in his chest when a dark, shadowy blackness starts to cover up the light of his world. He wants to get up, fight it back, but his body isn't listening to him and he's just so _tired_. Black tendrils wrap around his body, locking him in a numb embrace, choking him. He wants to struggle and fight but he's suddenly become nothing but a lifeless doll.

The shadows close in around him, cutting off the last of his light.

And as his eyes finally slide shut, he calls out.

"_Ace…"_

* * *

Ace scowls as he eats his breakfast, listening to Vista and Haruta taking bets as to when he'll fall asleep in his breakfast. He does not do that every meal, thank you very much. And when he is kind enough to inform the two of them of such a fact, they just laugh.

"Right," Haruta chuckles, "And you aren't the Demon."

Ace rolls his eyes. The constant teasing and joking about what he is has actually made it easier for him to accept and come to terms with it. That doesn't mean it's not annoying. Just as he opens him mouth to make a sharp retort, all the air rushes from his lungs and a sharp pain explodes in his stomach, like he's just been punched in the gut. He drops the food in his hand, eyes going hazy and distant, like he's seeing something that isn't there. There is a sudden sinking in his stomach and a growing feeling of _dread_.

Vista and Haruta frown, exchanging looks at Ace's sudden change. Before either of them can ask what's wrong, however, Ace's eyes go wide and he turns, throwing up everything he's just eaten onto the floor. Ace is aware of Vista crying out in surprise and Haruta jumping over the table to rub his back and ask him what's wrong, but it's muffled, like he's underwater.

He can only think that something is wrong.

Something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

"_Ace…"_

_Luffy._

As soon as Ace finishes emptying his stomach, he's up and out of the mess hall, ignoring the glass of water Vista offers him, and heading straight for the Captain's quarters.

He needs to talk to Marco _now_.

He slams open the door, cutting off the Phoenix mid-word as he and Izo both turn to look at him. Seeing how disheveled and out of breath he is, Marco is immediately on his feet.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"I need to leave," Ace says quickly, the words rushing out. Marco and Izo stare at him in confusion. "It's Luffy."

He receives a raised eyebrow in response to that. Before the Demon can explain, Haruta rushes in and latches onto his arm.

"Ace, why'd you run off?" she questions, anger and worry both underlying her tone, "You left Vista to clean up your mess and you didn't even go to the infirmary!"

"I'm fine," Ace growls, he doesn't have _time_ for this. "I need to leave Marco."

Marco levels him with a look. "Why?"

"Something's happened to Luffy."

"Why does Haruta think you should be in the infirmary?"

Ace doesn't reply.

"He tossed his breakfast five minutes ago," Haruta answers for him, looking up at him disapprovingly.

Marco sighs. "Ace – "

"I'm not _asking_ permission," Ace interrupts, eyes narrowing, face challenging, "I am _telling_ you that I am going. I thought I'd be nice instead of just disappearing. You won't stop me from leaving."

Silence reigns in the room as both Izo and Haruta look a little shocked at Ace's outburst. They've never heard him talk that way before, not to Marco. Marco just searches his eyes before finally sighing.

"Haruta, take him to the infirmary and get him cleaned up," he orders, waving a hand, he continues before Ace can form an angry protest, "Izo, have someone get Ace some supplies together and then head to navigation. See if we've got any leads on Straw Hat." Marco opens one of his desk drawers and tosses Ace a baby den-den mushi. "Try to keep in contact."

Ace nods, a shaky, relieved smile forming on his face, and lets Haruta drag him to the infirmary. The knowledge that he's been given the okay to go and that his crew is helping him does nothing to quell the growing knot of worry in his chest or diminish the sense of _wrong_ in his heart.

So as soon as everything is ready, Ace jumps into his Striker and heads off to find his brother without even a goodbye to his nakama.

Something bad has happened.

Something completely, utterly, and hopelessly awful.

And it's happened to Luffy.

To his Angel.

He can feel it in his bones, his heart, his skin, his _being_.

He just hopes he's not too late.

* * *

The Straw Hats know something is wrong when everyone is sitting down for breakfast.

And Luffy isn't there.

Sanji had called them in for their morning meal and there was an unnatural silence that rang out on the ship. There were no whoops of joy, no yells of excitement, no cries for meat. Not even the sound of stampeding feet. Nothing.

So when they're all sitting at the table and there is still no sign of their captain something has to be wrong. Everyone turns to Robin, who crosses her arms over her chest and closes her eyes. Seconds later, they're open again and the archeologist lets loose a light chuckle.

"It seems Captain-san has fallen asleep on the lawn," she says.

The crew, almost simultaneously, rolls their eyes. Nami kicks Zoro out to go get him, which he does, grumbling all the while, so the rest of them can start eating.

The swordsman finds his captain sprawled out face down on the lawn.

"Oi, Luffy," he calls as he approaches, "If you don't hurry up, we're going to eat everything without you."

Luffy doesn't even twitch.

Zoro frowns and places a hand on the rubber teen's shoulder, giving it a rough shake. "Luffy? Time to wake up."

Nothing.

That's when Zoro starts to notice that everything is out of place. Luffy never sleeps face down, always on his back or side. He also snores, or at least breathes, loudly. Zoro can't hear anything. Quickly, he rolls Luffy over onto his back. His captain is pale, his breath coming in short, shallow, wheezing gasps. The first mate presses two fingers to Luffy's neck and has to fight not to jerk away because Luffy is _cold_.

Too cold.

Humans should never be that cold.

A chill runs down Zoro's spine when he feels just how faint and weak Luffy's pulse is.

He does the only thing he can.

"CHOPPER!"

* * *

Back in the galley, breakfast has moved on without the captain and first mate. It's quieter than normal, but still enjoyable. It's peaceful for once.

But then the peace is shattered.

"CHOPPER!"

Everyone freezes.

That was Zoro.

Zoro never calls for Chopper. Not like that. Not in that voice so full of _panic_ and _fear_.

The entire crew bolts to the deck, breakfast forgotten, to find Zoro kneeling over the prone form of their captain. Chopper is next to them instantly, asking Zoro what happened, checking Luffy's pulse, his eyes, his temperature.

The crew is silent.

This has never happened before.

Luffy _never_ gets sick.

The only time he's ever been exhausted enough to collapse is after a huge battle.

They haven't fought anyone in weeks.

Chopper orders Luffy moved to the infirmary, muttering under his breath about weak heartbeats and falling blood pressure. Zoro scoops up his captain and everyone is floored by how frail he looks. Luffy has never looked so breakable, so fragile, so _tiny_ in Zoro's arms.

Not even after Water 7 or Thriller Bark.

An icy shard of fear lodges itself in their hearts.

But if anyone can fix him, Chopper can.

Chopper exits the infirmary, quietly closing the door behind him, before turning to the crew.

Zoro is the one who breaks the silence, blunt as always. "What's wrong with him?"

Chopper shakes his head. "I…don't know," he whispers. It sounds painful for those words to leave his mouth.

"But…you can heal him, right?" Usopp asks.

"I don't know."

The atmosphere in the room is heavy, silent, tense, _unnatural_.

This isn't how Luffy's ship is supposed to feel.

"What do you know?" Robin asks, her voice toneless and face blank. But her nakama can see the slight press of her lips and the tightness around her eyes.

Chopper sighs. He looks tired. And older. "It's like…it's like his body is shutting down," he says slowly, trying to find the right words, "His heart is slowing down, which is causing his blood pressure to fall. He also seems to have trouble breathing and he is no longer able to regulate his own body temperature," Chopper pauses, and unsure look on his face, "I don't understand though; he doesn't have any symptoms. His body is perfectly healthy. It's just…not working."

Silence.

Then Zoro draws himself up.

He's Luffy's first mate. If Luffy can't command the crew, he will.

"Nami, how long until we reach the next island?" he asks.

Nami, jerks, startled by the question. "A…few days," she says, "Five at the most, three if we push it and the wind is on our side."

"Aim for three," Zoro says.

Nami doesn't argue.

Sanji doesn't yell at him for ordering her around.

No one makes a sound.

Zoro resists the urge to sigh. He wishes Sanji would yell at him, Nami would add to his debt. It would mean everything was normal. But it's not.

Wordlessly, he enters the infirmary.

Luffy is in the bed, buried under numerous blankets in an attempt to keep him warm. His face is pale and calm, but he's so damn _still_ that Zoro just wants to march over to the bed, grab him and shake him roughly and yell at him to _wake the hell up damnit_. But he doesn't.

Instead, he sits in the chair by the bed, arms crossed over his chest. If he believed in God, he supposes this is the part where he prays. But he doesn't believe in God and he doesn't really know how to pray, so instead he takes Wado from its place on his hip and lays it on the bed next to his captain.

For now, it's the best he can do.

* * *

Two days.

That's how long it takes Ace to find Luffy's ship.

By now, he's grown frantic and a little desperate. The sinking in his gut, the hole in his heart, the _wrongness_ in the air is getting worse. And it scares him. He wonders if anyone else can feel it, feel the stillness, the quiet. It's like the world has stopped moving. The calm before the storm. For Ace it's the like the moment before the world comes tumbling down.

Ace barely has enough focus left to secure his Striker to the Thousand Sunny, before jumping on deck.

Luffy's ship is quiet.

Ace didn't think that was possible.

The crew looks surprised by his arrival.

"Ace?" Usopp asks, "What're you doing here?"

Ace ignores him, eyes searching the deck. He doesn't see what he came here for. The Demon zeros in on the first mate, who's watching him with a knowing eye.

"Where is he?" Ace demands.

Nobody has to ask who he means. Zoro is the only one who doesn't look away from him. Wordlessly, he turns and walks into the bowels of Sunny, Ace following so closely, he's almost on top of the swordsman. When they reach the infirmary, Ace rushes past Zoro. He ignores Chopper, who is sitting at the desk with various medical texts open and another pile on the floor waiting to be searched through. He goes straight for Luffy.

What he sees makes his heart freeze in his chest.

Luffy is pale. So so so pale. His normally, tan, sea-worn skin is a translucent ivory, dark blue veins easily visible. It makes a slightly morbid picture, the blue lines tracing over his face and neck. His Angel – bright, vibrant, happy, alive – is still. So still. Luffy is never still. Except now he is. His normally smiling face is blank, relaxed and calm, but _empty_. His lips are tinted with gray, slightly parted to take silent, shallow breaths.

What scares Ace the most is Luffy's glow.

Even in the chaos and carnage that was Marineford, Luffy's glow remained strong and constant. But now. Now it's just a dim flicker, like a candle that's just about reached the end of its wick and is about to go out. The light that has always lived under Luffy's skin, never flickering or faltering, is about to go out.

Ace thinks he might cry.

He doesn't know if the others can tell. But.

Luffy is dying.

His brother.

His soulmate.

His Angel.

His Light.

Dying.

His knees go weak and he has to force himself to sit down on the edge of the bed _slowly_ so he doesn't cause Luffy anymore pain than he's already in.

"What happened?" he finally manages to choke out.

"We found him collapsed on deck two days ago," Zoro says tonelessly.

If Ace didn't know any better, he'd say the swordsman didn't care. But he can see the lines of tension, the bags under his eyes. Ace tears his eyes from the first mate and looks back to his fading brother.

"What's wrong with him?" he asks.

Chopper shifted, biting his lip and turning away from his books to face the Demon. "Honestly, I have no idea," he says and his voice is so full of _pain_ over that single face that Ace flinches. "Ever since he collapsed his heart's been getting…not weaker, but it's like his brain has stopped telling it to beat often as it should."

Ace narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"As hard as it is to believe with his current appearance, Luffy is still in excellent physical health. His body has just…stopped working."

Ace frowns, peering down at his brother. He reaches out a hand, brushing fingers along a pale cheek. Ace only has time to register that it is _too cold_, before Luffy's eyes fly open and he inhales sharply.

Zoro and Chopper are immediately at the bed with him, holding their captain down, while Ace holds his Angel's face between his hands. Luffy's eyes are a washed out gray and going white, a pale imitation of their once shining silver. He sees the recognition flash in them and then Luffy's mouth is moving and he's choking on air.

"Ace…"

"Shhh, Luffy. Shhhh, I'm here," soothes Ace, sweeping his thumbs over the young captain's cheeks.

"Ace..."

Luffy's eyes are drooping again and Ace can tell he's fighting to stay awake even though he can see how much it hurts the Angel just to breathe his name. His throat tightens and his eyes burn.

"It's okay," he finds himself saying, "Everything is okay. You'll be fine."

"Ace."

He looks up at that. The finality in Luffy's voice, in the way he says his name. Luffy knows. Knows that he's dying. Knows that there is nothing any of them can do. A choked sob forces itself free and he presses his forehead to his little brother's.

"Please don't leave me," he begs, voice shaking, broken.

If Luffy leaves, he'll be alone again. Back in that dark solitude before Sabo and Luffy and their brotherhood. Before he knew what happiness felt like, before he knew how freedom tasted.

"Love you."

And then Lufy's pale eyes are glassy and blank and dead and Ace knows those eyes will haunt his dreams even as veiny, grayish lids slide shut over them. Luffy is still again. Back to that unnatural stillness and that _damn silence_ again and Ace wants to scream. He feels Zoro and Chopper shift off the bed, hears Chopper babble hopefully about how this is the first time Luffy has regained consciousness and that it might be a good sign.

Ace takes a deep, shuddering breath and forces himself to pull his hands away from Luffy's cold face.

"Chopper," he says softly, the misery and pain in his voice a tangible thing.

The little doctor looks up at him. "Don't worry, Ace. I'll take care of Luffy."

He shakes his head a rueful smile on his lips. "I know you will," he says, and then he looks at Zoro and sees that the swordsman has guessed, but doesn't want to believe. Still he doesn't want to say it out loud, to crush the young doctor's hope or shatter the first mate's will. "Just…make him as comfortable as you can."

Chopper nods and Ace leaves the infirmary as fast as he can. He almost runs to the darkest corner of the ship, curling in on himself and sobbing when he finally reaches it, Luffy's love echoing in his head.

* * *

The ship has been docked at an island for the past day.

Chopper his been doing everything he can, checking books, trying every medicine he can think of, to try and get Luffy back on his feet. Nothing's working.

Ace hasn't left Luffy's side since his break down. If Luffy is going to leave him, he's going to spend every possible moment with him, no matter how painful it is. Eventually, though, Chopper forces him out of the infirmary and tells him he needs to eat something. He doesn't need to unhealthy charges. Reluctantly, he obeys, his stomach echoing his agreement. He hasn't eaten properly in days. So he heads to the galley. As he approaches, he hears voices inside, but pays them no mind as he steps closer.

Nami sighs in frustration, running a hands through her hair, glaring at the log book she has open on the table, the golden circlet she had taken from Luffy five days ago sitting on the table next to it.

"Something wrong, Nami-san?" Sanji asks from where he's washing dishes. The cook has been less flirtatious these last few days, but he is still very polite and sweet to his Nami-san and Robin-chan.

Nami sighs again. "It's this crown," she says, tapping it lightly with the tip of her finger, "Luffy said he got it from the treasure room, but I can't find any record of it. And there's no way Luffy could have managed to hide it."

Sanji glances over at the piece sitting on the table, a thoughtful frown on his face. "I don't recall seeing it before," he says.

"I know," Nami replies, leaning back in her chair, "But it's not like I can ask Luffy. He's…" she trails off, unwilling and unable to finish her thought.

Before the silence in the room can become too uncomfortable, Ace swings the door open and steps in.

"Hey, Sanji, can you –"

The Demon cuts off when his eyes fall on the golden circlet resting on the table. His world freezes, grinds to a complete halt. _That shouldn't be there._ Why is it there? It doesn't belong. Agonizingly slowly, unaware of the strange looks he's getting from his brother's cook and navigator, he takes a few halting steps forward as the conversation he just barely heard replays itself in his head.

Suddenly, Ace's body _moves_. Nami doesn't even have time to scream before Ace's hand is around her throat, lifting her off the ground and slamming her back into the closest wall.

"YOU FOOL!" Ace roars. Nami's hands fly to the man's wrist, trying tug the hand away from her neck, as her eyes widen in surprises and fear. She has never seen someone this _angry_ before. Fury is rolling off Ace's already changed body, glowing crimson orbs bore into hers and she sees tendrils of black begin to lick at the edges of his eyes. Ace doesn't look away from her and doesn't listen to the enraged words spilling from Sanji's mouth when he raises his free arm and slams it into the cook's gut, sending him flying into the opposite wall. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE? WHAT YOU'VE TAMPERED WITH?" Dimly, Ace is aware that his hand is tightening around Nami's neck, aware that she's clawing desperately as his wrist as she tries to breathe, aware that if he doesn't stop soon he will kill her. But she has done something unforgivable and he can't shake his complete and absolute rage long enough to regain his crumbling control. "HE'S DYING! YOUR DOCTOR CAN'T FIX HIM! NO ONE CAN! HE'S IN THAT BED BECAUSE OF YOU! I'M LOSING HIM BECAUSE YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

Ace's senses are suddenly snapped back into place when he feels the cold steel of a blade against his throat. He turns to glare at Zoro, no less angry, but finally in control again.

"Let her go," he says.

Ace sneers, tail wrapping around Zoro's arm and wrenching the blade from his neck. Still, he releases Nami and she falls gracelessly to the floor, gasping and clutching at her throat. The Demon stares down at her coldly while he lets his wings slide back under his skin, the glowing crimson remaining in his eyes as the rest of his transformation fades.

He's now aware of the crew (minus Chopper), gathered in the galley, all in fighting stances and regarding him warily. He ignores them. Instead, he turns back to the table and carefully picks up the golden circlet, holding it as if it's made of glass. He sees the faint glow that surrounds it, that weak, flickering light that's about to go out.

"You better hope he lives," Ace says, looking directly at Nami over his shoulder, glowing eyes still radiating fury, voice cold and deadly, "Luffy's nakama or not, I may not be inclined to forgive you this."

And with that, he's out the door, brushing past the confused and nervous crew and heading straight for the infirmary. He meets Chopper at the door.

"Ace?" he asks, worry lining his features, "What's wrong? I heard yelling."

"Nothing," Ace says shortly, and makes a move to enter the infirmary only to be blocked by the little doctor. "Move, Chopper. I need to see Luffy."

Chopper shakes his head. "You haven't been gone long enough to eat anything. Besides, you're angry."

"I'm fine," Ace snaps, control already fraying. _He doesn't have time for this_.

"No you're not. I'm not letting you see Luffy like this."

That is the wrong thing to say.

"YOU'LL LET ME SEE HIM OR I'LL BURN THIS WHOLE DAMN SHIP DOWN!"

* * *

As soon as Ace stormed out of the room, Zoro kneels down by Nami. Robin rushes over to them while Brook and Usopp pull Sanji to his feet. Sanji waves them off and insists that Nami is in more need of the attention than he is.

Nami's breathing is still a little ragged and Zoro can see the angry red mark on her neck that he knows will be a bruise later.

"What happened?" Zoro asks.

Nami just shakes her head while Sanji growls in frustration. "We don't know," he says, "We were just talking; Nami-san was doing some accounting, trying to figure out where Luffy got that crown and then Ace walks in and next thing we know he's gone berserk."

He's on edge, they all are. Luffy's condition is taking its toll on all of them. But this behavior is still unlike Ace. Ace has never even once expressed anger toward any of them. This sudden change is completely unexpected.

"He said it was my fault," Nami croaked with a cough, "He said Luffy's condition was my fault."

"That's not possible, Nami-san," Sanji says reassuringly, "Ace is just upset is all. We all are –"

Anything else he would have said is cut off by Ace's enraged voice echoing over the ship.

"YOU'LL LET ME SEE HIM OR I'LL BURN THIS WHOLE DAMN SHIP DOWN!"

_That_ has the entire crew running to the infirmary, worried for both Chopper and Luffy's safety. What they find is Chopper in heavy point, standing in front of the door a determined frown on his face, Ace standing opposite him, crimson eyes narrowed, one fist raise and on fire ready to strike.

Zoro quickly steps forward. "Enough you two," he says firmly. Ace whirls on him, eyes wild and frantic. "Ace, you need to calm down." The swordsman says it as softly and soothingly as he can manage.

Ace blinks at him, the fire in his hand and across his shoulders flickering out. He glances down at the gold band in his hand, closes his eyes and takes a deep shuddering breath. When he opens them again, his eyes are back to brown, anger and rage replaced with fear and pain.

He doesn't say anything, just looks at Chopper and the young doctor is so shocked by what her sees in those eyes, he shrinks back to brain point and stumbles out of the Demon's way.

Ace wastes no time; he's through the door and hovering over Luffy's bed before any of them can blink. The crew watches as he carefully slips the circlet in his hands over Luffy's head. The reaction is instant. Luffy suddenly inhales, the movement so powerful that his body arches off the bed, freeing itself of the numerous blankets. His hands come up and start clawing at his throat, only for Ace to grab is wrists. Luffy struggles, eyes half-open now as he chokes on air, trying to break free, to move, to breath, to do _some__thing_. Ace pulls him into his arms as he thrashes wildly, preventing him from hurting himself.

"Shhhhh, Luffy, shhhhh. Everything's okay, everything's fine," Ace soothes, "Just breathe. Everything will be fine. Breathe. You won't run out of air. Okay? In, out, in, out. There you go. It's alright. You're okay. You're okay, Luffy. Shhhhhh, you'll be fine."

Slowly, Luffy's struggles calm until he rests limply in his brother's arms, his breathing finally, _finally_, normal. And for the first time in days, Luffy is asleep, not unconscious, but actually a peaceful, natural sleep. Ace holds him for a little longer, breathing in his scent, taking in his slowly warming body, his steadily brightening glow, the fact that he's _still here_. Then he gently lowers his little brother down onto the bed, pulling some of the blankets back over him and smoothing a hand over his dark hair. The gold band gleams brightly from its place on his head.

He takes as deep, steadying breath and leans back against the wall at the head of the bed, his thigh resting by Luffy's head, and buries his face in one of his hands, his shoulders trembling with relief. His other hand stays tangled in Luffy's hair as an anchor of sorts and he watches through his fingers as shining gold melts into hair and skin.

Franky is the one who finally breaks the silence.

"What just happened?"

Ace lets his hand slide down his face until it rests over his mouth, his eyes taking in the Straw Hats. He tries to push back the burning anger because it isn't all their fault, but it's heard because Luffy almost _died_. Since he doesn't let himself feel the anger and he's so drunk on relief, he's mostly just tired. So tired. But he sees their confusion, knows they have been just as terrified as her has these last few days, so he sighs, lowing his hand from his mouth.

"You've never seen Luffy in his Angel form, have you?" he asks softly.

Usopp blinks. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Nami, however, has her eyes locked on Luffy's head where the gold band disappeared, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Everything," Ace says, looking directly at the navigator. She gulps at the weight of the stare, but Sanji gets between her and Ace and the weight lessens. "Do you know anything about us?" he asks, voice still soft and calm and tired, but serious.

"That there is only one Angel and one Demon at a time," Robin says, "That the two have a long history of bloody conflicts."

Ace snorts at that, an amused smile briefly making its way to his face. "Those are the stories everyone seems to know," he muses, "Can't do anything but fight with each other. What a load of crap." He sighs and shakes his head. "The Angel and the Demon are very different, but in reality, are almost exactly the same," he explains, "One thing in particular we share is that we each have one glaring weakness." Ace pauses, looking down at his hand. "For me, it's emotion. Rage, anger, hatred. It's easy for me to lose myself in it; to lose control." He looks down at Luffy's sleeping face. "When that happens, I stop being me. I become something else. I become a creature of rage hell bent on killing anything in my way." He doesn't want to look at Luffy's crew as he says this, but they need to know, so he makes himself look up. "I've only ever lost control twice and I promised myself I would never lose control again." He chuckles bitterly, eyes lingering on the bruise forming on Nami's neck. "Some promise," he says, ruefully shaking his head, "I almost broke it today."

As if sensing his brother's distress, Luffy turns his head so that his cheek is resting on Ace's thigh, a hand comes up and latches onto his shorts. Surprised, Ace blinks down at him before chuckling softly. "He'll be mad at me when he wakes up," Ace says, turning back to Nami, that same sad, bitter smile on his lips, "I'm sorry."

Nami shakes her head, floored by the emotion and conflict on the fire user's face. "It's fine," she manages to choke out, her throat still sore, "I'm sure you had a reason."

Ace's smile changes then, filled with restrained anger and fear. It startles the crew.

"What about the Angel's weakness, Ace-san?" Brook prompts gently.

Ace takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. "His halo."

"His…halo?" Sanji repeats slowly, unsure, but tone holding an underlying realization.

"What do you mean, Ace?" Chopper asks.

"Aside from the obvious white wings, the Angel also has silver eyes and a gold halo," the Demon says, looking directly at Nami, whose eyes are slowly widening, "If that halo is ever removed, the Angel falls into a coma and inevitably dies."

Ace's face and tone are blank as he says it, revealing nothing of his personal feelings after he delivers the cold fact. The crew seems to be in various levels of shock. Nami's hands fly to her mouth and she falls to her knees. Her eyes are wide and she's shaking.

"You mean," she chokes out, shocked beyond anything, "that I…"

Ace nods, eyes revealing nothing. "Almost killed Luffy? Yes."

He's blunt and he knows it's cruel of him, but the Straw Hats need to understand the what they almost did.

"His wings don't have to be out," Ace explains, "Sometimes just our eyes change; other times it's my tail or his halo. We don't always have to fully transform, there are in-betweens. The one constant are the eyes. Mine turn crimson, Luffy's turn silver."

"Silver," Nami mutters. She looks numb, "His eyes were silver that morning."

Ace's face finally showed a sliver off compassion. "Chopper, you should look at her and Sanji. I was a little rough on them earlier."

Sanji waves them off. "I'm fine. Nami-san needs attention more than I do."

Nami looks like she's in shock, she's staring at nothing. She almost killed Luffy. _Luffy_. Her captain. Her liberator.

"Nami."

Ace's voice cuts through her thoughts. The looks he's giving her is hard. "Stop. That's not helping anyone. Luffy is still alive. I'm not blaming you. And I know for a fact that even if he had died, Luffy won't blame you. So knock it off. The only reason I'm telling you any of this is so _it doesn't happen again_. Are we clear?"

Nami gives a shaky nod and lets Chopper examine her. Ace sighs, knowing that she won't really be better until Luffy speaks to her, but for now it will have to do. He's too tired, his earlier adrenaline rush fading and leaving him exhausted. He lets his head fall back against the wall and next thing he knows, he's asleep.

* * *

Luffy wakes a day later.

His skin has regained his color and his body is warm again and he's smiling and Ace feels the weight on his chest lift. The Angel doesn't really remember what happened and of course the first thought he has when he wakes is food. He's been asleep for a little over six days after all and that's thirty meals.

So Luffy bounds off to the galley, where Sanji is conveniently enough finishing making lunch, dragging Ace behind him. He barges into the room with his usual grin and declarations for meat, sitting in his seat and practically bouncing in excitement. It takes him a while, but eventually, he notices the relieved stares he's receiving.

"Huh? What's with you guys?" he asks, tilting his head to the side.

"It's nothing, Captain-san," Robin answers, a calm smile on her face, "We are just happy to see you awake."

Luffy blinks then grins. "Me too!" he exclaims.

Sanji then places the meal on the table, more food than usual because he knows Luffy will want to make up for all of the meals he's missed. The young captain reaches for the food, but, to everyone's surprise, his hand freezes just short of it before it's pulled back. His eyes are on Nami. On the large, dark purple, hand-shaped bruise on her neck.

"Nami," he says, and he's wearing his serious face and using _that_ voice and the room freezes, everyone suddenly at attention, "Who did that to your neck?"

Nami's hand goes to her throat, it still hurts, but she doesn't blame Ace for what happened, not really. She presses her lips together, not wanting to rat out the fire user when it really isn't his fault.

"I did."

But apparently, Ace has no problem ratting himself out. The room holds its breath as Luffy turns serious eyes to his brother.

"I came to close to losing control. I'm sorry."

Luffy studies his brother, eyes serious, expression blank. Ace looks back with an expression that's just as empty.

"Why?" Luffy asks. He knows Ace would never harm Nami, not without reason.

"Because she took off your halo," Ace says bluntly. Nami flinches in her seat.

Luffy just blinks. "Huh?"

Ace sighs. "You almost died, Luffy. I keep telling you to be more careful! It's not even Nami's fault! You should have explained things to your crew. You didn't even stop her from taking your halo off in the first place when you _know_ exactly what would happen!"

Luffy's expression just goes more and more confused while the crew is stunned. Ace is putting a majority of the blame for what happened on _Luffy_.

The Angel just cocks his head to the side. "What are you talking about? I was just flying and eating meat and then there were these shadows that wouldn't let go of me, so I had to take a nap for a while."

Silence.

Then Ace groans, throwing a hand over his face. "Son of a – you were sleep walking again weren't you?" the older accuses, "You were wandering around your ship asleep and half transformed and you probably said something stupid that made Nami think it was okay to take your halo off! Goddamnit! Now I feel even worse because it really was all your fault!"

"Ah," Nami speaks up, voice soft, "It really isn't your fault Ace, I did something without thinking of the possible repric –"

"So you're telling me Luffy didn't say _anything_ that made it seem like it was okay to remove his halo?" Ace deadpans, not believing a word of it.

"W-well, he did say he took it out of the treasure room," Nami confesses, unable to hold up under the weight of Ace's stare.

Ace groans and lets his head fall back while Luffy just giggle. "Shishishishishi! You're silly, Ace! Nami didn't do anything wrong and I'm fine!"

Ace just sighs. "You're going to kill me one of these days, Luffy. You're going to do something stupid that gets you in trouble and I'll die of a heart attack before I even make it to twenty-five."

And suddenly, Luffy is in his lap, straddling his hips and holding his face between his hands. "No you won't," he says seriously, "You won't die. I won't let you. Tell me how to stop scaring you."

Ace stares at Luffy, eye wide, shaken by the seriousness in his brother's voice. Slowly, he trails a hand up Luffy's body until it's at the back of the Angel's neck. "Shit," he breaths, "Luffy it was a joke, a bad joke, but just a joke."

Luffy's eyes narrow suspiciously. "You're not going anywhere?"

"No where."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay."

And then Luffy is off his lap and walking around the stunned table until he reaches Nami. The navigator looks up at her captain, but before she can say anything, he's bent over and his lips are brushing against the bruise on her neck, which suddenly hurts a lot less.

"Oi! You shitty-Captain! What do you think you're doing to Nami-san?!"

"Shut up, Ero-cook!"

Before an argument can break out, Luffy backs away, a wide grin on his face.

"There," he chirps, "Now your Demon ouchie is gone, so Ace doesn't have to feel guilty and I'm fine so Nami doesn't have to feel guilty either. 'Kay?"

Nami can only nod as she brings a hand to her neck, feeling perfectly healthy skin.

Luffy beams. "Great! Now that that's settled, time for MEAT!" And the rubber captain is across the table taking food from anyone and everyone as if it were a normal day, which, for him, it was.

Chopper is peering up at Nami's neck in awe. "He…healed her bruise."

"I didn't know Luffy could do that!" Usopp exclaims.

"It's SUUUUUUUUUUPER cool, bro!"

"Yohohohohoh! Luffy-san has quite the gift!"

"I wonder why he hasn't used it before?" wonders Robin.

"Because it only works with stuff I've caused," Ace answers.

"What do you mean?" the archeologist asks.

"We're opposites," Ace answers with a nonchalant shrug, "We naturally compliment and oppose each other. We experimented with it a lot when we were younger."

"So his healing abilities only work on wounds you've caused?" Sanji asks.

"In my Demon form, yes," Ace says, taking a drink.

Before the conversation can carry on any further, Luffy pauses in his quest to eat thirty meals in one sitting. "Yhou guysh aurh bhuin borhin (You guys are being boring)," Luffy says through a mouthful of food before swallowing, "If you don't stop, I'm going to eat all your food," he says seriously.

And just like that, any remaining tension or worry that had built up over the past week is gone. Luffy is back and he's fine, well enough to steal all the food on the ship. The thought causes laughs all around and the Straw Hat's lunch resumes with its usual chaos.

Underneath the table, Ace holds Luffy's hand tightly. The Angel interlaces their fingers without a thought, not at all hindered by eating with just one hand, and gives Ace's hand a reassuring squeeze.

He's here.

He's fine.

He's alive.

And he's not going anywhere.

* * *

**See? See, Eve? *bounces excitedly* I did it, just like I promised! *is so proud of self***

**Please review! Let me know what you think! ^^  
**

**~Elri  
**


	2. Flowers

_****_**Hello, my lovelies!  
**

**So the plot bunnies for this fic keep multiplying. At a rather alarming rate. My brain is struggling to keep up. Good news is that I have more story to share with you! Bad news is my brain might explode soon. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  
**

**First off, no Son Goshen, this is not the one-shot I promised you. Sorry. That one is taking much longer than expected to write and I can tell you right now that it will definitely be more than a one-shot. And before the rest of you go into conniptions, NO. I AM NOT DOING REQUESTS FOR THIS FIC RIGHT NOW. Maybe in the future. It just so happened that I needed permission for this particular one-shot and that's what happened. So PLEASE do not fill my inbox with fic requests.  
**

**Moving on.  
**

**This shot takes place when Ace is 12 and Luffy is 9. It focuses mostly on Ace with a little Luffy, Garp, and a special someone else thrown in.  
**

**Warnings: Fluff, lots of fluff.  
**

**Disclaimer: Still no.  
**

**Now, ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Flowers~**_

_Flowers are for girls, but every once in a while, they can be for boys too._

* * *

Ace idly twirls the flower steam between his fingers as he sits at his usual spot on the cliff that overlooks the sea. He doesn't know why he kept it, flowers are stupid and girly and definitely not something Ace would normally be caught dead carrying around. Maybe it's because Luffy gave him this one. Or maybe it's because it's a nice red color and not some frilly pink. Ace doesn't know why. He just knows that something is preventing him from throwing the flower away.

The Demon remembers when the Angel ran up to him that morning, proudly shoving the flower in his face.

"_Look what I got Ace!"_

_Ace stares at the flower impassively. "It's just a flower," he says bluntly._

"_Nu-huh! Makino says it's a special flower called a red haibisket," the Angel says proudly, completely butchering the word 'hibiscus' as he practically bounces in place._

"_Uh-huh. And why should I care?" Ace asks. _

_He really doesn't. If Luffy wants to spend his time picking flowers, that's fine. Ace has better things to do. Like train._

"_Cause it's for you silly!" Luffy exclaims, shoving the delicate flower into his hands._

"_Wha –" _

_Ace is completely dumbfounded. Why the heck would Luffy give him a __**flower**__? That kind of stuff was for girls!_

"_It's from this nice lady," Luffy continues, oblivious to the Demon's growing confusion, "I had a dream about her last night. I don't remember a lot about what happened, but I remember her. She was really pretty and warm to, like being wrapped up in the biggest hug ever. She had really long, shiny hair and she had this big smile on her face. She had freckles and big, brown eyes just like you, Ace! And she had a flower just like that in her hair! She said she had a present for you and that I would find it when I woke up. She told me to give it to you because she couldn't. But she said that even though she isn't here to tell you, that doesn't mean she doesn't love you. She says she loves you with all her heart." Luffy grins and Ace can do nothing but stare at the Angel, wide-eyed. "And then I woke up and the flower was on my pillow. Makino told me what it was when she came to visit today!"_

_Ace looks down at the flower in his hands._

_Someone loves him?_

_He wants to laugh and call it a joke, but this is Luffy. Little, curious, innocent Luffy._

_So Ace's fingers curl around the stem. And while he might not believe Luffy about where the flower came from and what it means, he holds onto it anyway._

"Thought I might find you here! Thought you could hide, did you?"

The loud, booming voice snaps him back to the present. He looks over his shoulder to see Garp walking towards him, hands in his pockets. Ace doesn't jump up like he normally would; there's an unspoken rule about this cliff. It's a quiet place, for thinking and reflecting. Ace knows that Garp won't try to show him any "love" here.

"What do you want, geezer?"

When Garp doesn't say anything back, no yelling or crying, not even a simple spoken word, Ace turns to look back at his adopted grandfather.

Garp is looking at the flower in his hands. He has an expression on his face that Ace has never seen before. It's soft and compassionate and sad and guilty all at the same time.

"Gramps?"

His call seems to snap the man out of his daze. "Where did you get that?" he asks softly.

So taken aback by Garp's tone of voice, the answer slips from his lips of its own accord. "Luffy gave it to me. He said it was a gift from some lady he saw in a dream last night."

Garp is silent as he walks up to Ace and kneels in front of the twelve year old, gently, he takes the flower from Ace's limp fingers. Ace has no idea what to do; Garp has never acted this way around him before, not that he can remember at least. Ace doesn't know how to handle this sudden tenderness and if he's honest, it scares him a little. No one has ever really been _gentle_ with him before. It's all new to him. Until Luffy, he hardly knew what affection was.

But Garp either doesn't notice or ignores Ace's complete confusion as he brings the flower up and gently places it in the little Demon's hair, somehow managing to arrange it so the flower will stay in place on its own. When he pulls away, it takes Ace a minute to realize what he's done. Once his brain catches up, he scowls at Garp.

"I'm not a girl, damnit!" he exclaims, hands flying to his head intending to rip the girly flower out of his hair.

"You look like her," Garp comments. Ace's hands freeze halfway to his head as he turns wide eyes towards Garp, hands slowly falling to his sides. "Your mother used to wear a flower just like that one in her hair. Every day if she could," Garp reminisces. Ace clings hungrily to every word, eyes never leaving the man's face. "She wore one every day of her pregnancy with you, even the day she gave birth."

Slowly, Ace brings a hand up to trace the delicate, red petals, Luffy's words echoing in his head.

"_She had really long, shiny hair and she had this big smile on her face. She had freckles and big, brown eyes just like you, Ace! And she had a flower just like that in her hair!"_

"_She says she loves you with all her heart."_

"I…look like her?" he asks haltingly, suddenly afraid to look Garp in the eye. This information is all new to him, something he's thirsted for for ages. This is the woman who died so he could live. And while he doesn't think the sacrifice was worth it, he knows that for whatever reason, Portgas D. Rouge loved him. Loves him.

Garp nods. "You've got her brown eyes. Her freckles too," the marine says shortly, repeating what Luffy had said earlier that day.

_The flower was a gift from his mother._

"_She says she loves you with all her heart."_

Ace's lips curve up into a wide grin and his eyes feel a little wet. But he can't find it in himself to care because _his mother still loves him_ even though he killed her. And even though he still hates himself for it, part of him is so _happy_ that he feels like he might burst.

Garp sees the emotion on his grandson's face and can't help but grin. When Ace notices, he crosses his arms over his small chest and scowls, turning his head away.

"It's still stupid and girly," he says of the flower.

But Garp notices that the little Demon makes no move to take it out of his hair.

With a fleeting, almost grateful, look at Garp, Ace runs off in search of Luffy. Garp chuckles fondly after him as he races off into the trees.

Flowers are still really girly.

But, just this once, he's fine with that.

* * *

**Way shorter than the last one, I know, but isn't Ace just precious? I love him so much. And the way Luffy is so perfect without even trying! **

**So there's another chapter. Next one will probably be out in a few days. If the plot bunnies let me write them all before multiplying again. (Seriously, there is no end to them!)  
**

**Until next time!  
**

**~Elri  
**


	3. Intimate

_****_**Okay, guys, here's shot number three.  
**

**A lot of people have been favoriting and alerting, which is awesome and thank you so much to those people, but like two thirds of them aren't reviewing. I don't want to beg or sound snotty or anything, but is it that hard to leave a little feedback (those of you who actually reviewed are my favorites and are free to ignore this little rant)? I just want to know what you guys think. Plus more reviews equals faster updates.  
**

**Anywho.  
**

**I feel like I needed to give you something to hold you over while I try to finish up two shots that are turning out to be rather long...Anyway, this shot is set sometime in the future, after Pure and Tainted, whenever is up to you, could be months, years, whatever floats your boat.  
**

**It also addresses (sorta) the whole "no-lust" thing between Ace and Lu. I got a few questions on it, so I guess I didn't write it clear enough in Pure and Tainted, but the reason for it is because their relationship doesn't _need_ it. I wasn't saying nothing was ever going to happen, I was just trying to express that they could live without the physical stuff and still be perfectly happy. Their relationship is grounded in their very being, it's a soul-bond. They're soulmates; they can live without sex and so they have no driving desire to base their relationship on it. Does that make sense? I think it makes sense. Meh, you can tell me if it doesn't make sense.  
**

**Moving on.  
**

**I think you guys will like this one (even if you refuse to admit it) so I'm going to stop talking now and let you read. Enjoy. ^^  
**

**Characters: AcexLuffy  
Warnings: fluff, more fluff, extra fluff, *cough*implied sex*cough*, did I mention the fluff?  
**

**Disclaimer: ...yeah, still no.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Intimate~**_

_The morning after._

* * *

Ace takes a deep breath as he slowly comes to, opening his eyes to find sunlight streaming through the thin curtains covering the window of the inn room he spent the night in. He's warm and a little sticky, his skin sticking together slightly in some places in a manner that is slightly uncomfortable, but he can't bring himself to move. He feels content and complete in a way he never has before and he can still feel the tingles that ran down his spine the night before. He tries to shift slightly, only to find that something is preventing his body from moving. Looking down, the Demon smiles at the sight that greets him.

Luffy is curled up next to him, lightly snoring on his shoulder. Both of his Angel's legs are wrapped around one of his and his rubbery arms are wrapped around his bare torso. Luffy is pressing into his side, so close that their skin seems to have fused together. The bed they're on is a complete mess, a single sheet thrown haphazardly over their tangled forms. Ace surveys the mess as best he can, just to make sure they didn't break anything. Luffy makes a soft sound of protest at the movement and shoves himself even closer to his brother. The Demon chuckles lightly, tracing his fingers up the line of his Angel's spine, as his mind replays last night's events.

Their crews had docked at the same island and it didn't take long for both of them to find each other. Both of their crews ended up at a bar, which soon resulted in a full blown pirate party. Ace doesn't remember everything that happened, but he knows he started it. He knows he's the one who grew bold and dragged Luffy upstairs, knows he's the one who started taking off their clothes, knows he's the one who made all of the first moves. Luffy never once resisted or said no; just gave him this soft, knowing smile, his eyes shining in a way Ace didn't recognize.

Honestly, he never thought that something like that would ever happen between the two of them; but he can't say he's surprised. It's just like the first time Luffy kissed him. It's a different layer to their relationship, another level of intimacy and closeness they can share with each other. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wonders if Luffy was just waiting for him to make the first move. He knows for a fact that he was Luffy's first, a thought that makes him burn with a possessive, almost primal, kind of pride. It's strange; he's never once before last night thought of claiming Luffy as his. But now that it's happened, he refuses to let him be taken by anyone else. He knows that he is now Luffy's in the same way and it will stay as such, Demon's lust or not.

They were one last night, connected in both body and soul, and Ace finds himself relishing in the memory.

"You're thinking too loud," a voice grumbles near his ear, still heavy with sleep.

Ace grins, turning his head slightly so that he can plant a kiss on his Angel's forehead. "Good morning to you to, love," he teases.

Luffy mumbles incoherently before throwing a leg over Ace's hips, repositioning himself so he's straddling his brother's waist and lying over his chest. Ace watches as he settles himself with an amused expression.

"Comfy?" he asks.

"You're sticky," Luffy whines, nuzzling into him anyway.

Ace snorts. "Your fault," he replies, bring up a hand to massage the back of Luffy's neck. The Angel goes limp on top of him. "You fell asleep and then wouldn't let me go so I couldn't clean us up."

Luffy just hums in response, shifting slightly, stopping when a dull ache shoots through his lower back. Ace feels him flinch and looks down at him in concern.

"You okay?"

"A little sore," he says, "It's not that bad."

Ace hums, letting it go as his Angel settles on him again, head resting in the curve of his throat. They lay like that in silence for a few moments, Ace lightly tracing patterns into Luffy's back with the tips of his fingers.

"What are you thinking about?" Luffy asks softly, warm breath fanning across his Demon's jaw.

Ace smiles slightly at the ceiling; leave it to Luffy to be concerned about him the morning after when he's the one in pain. "You're not very pure anymore," he says lightly, but there's something else in his voice, something that makes Luffy tilt his head up to try and look at him.

Ace doesn't regret anything that happened between them; he wouldn't change anything about it. He loved everything that happened. But that doesn't stop the little voice in the back of his head, the one that always seems to know his doubts and fears. Luffy is the Angel; Luffy is pure and innocent. Ace has taken that from him, has tainted him in his core. And while the events last night were more natural than breathing, Ace can't help but feel a little like he's done something he shouldn't have.

The Demon is snapped out of his musings by lips brushing along his neck, nipping at skin.

"You think too much," Luffy breaths.

"I took your innocence," Ace replies, wondering if his brother even understands what happened.

"Hmm. No you didn't," Luffy says softly into his skin, "I gave it to you because I don't want to give it to anyone else. I know you'll take care of it. I trust you."

_I love you._

And then he pulls back and looks Ace in the eyes, smiling gently. The Demon has to resist the urge to hit himself; of course Luffy understands. The Angel may be dense, but he's perceptive when he needs to be. Which is almost all of the time around Ace as the Demon isn't one to openly express his feelings. Luffy knows him so well it scares him sometimes.

Ace buries a hand in Luffy's dark hair and drags his brother's lips to his. Luffy returns the kiss, molding himself to Ace's body as it becomes more heated. When they part, Luffy gives a breathless giggle as Ace plants a kiss in his hair.

"But next time," Luffy says, trailing light, fleeting kisses along Ace's jaw, "I'm going to be the one who pleases you."

Ace chuckles. "Oh yeah?" he says tauntingly, teasing his little brother by poking him in the side, entertained by the thought Luffy presents.

Luffy hums, the vibrations running between there connected bodies. "You deserve pleasure too, Ace," Luffy says softly into his ear, that unusual seriousness that makes people stop and listen to him lining his voice, "And I want to be the one who gives it to you."

Ace runs a hand through Luffy's tangled hair, trying to ignore the warmth bubbling in his chest, "We'll see," he says, all traces of joking gone.

Luffy shifts slightly again and the Demon frowns slightly at the griminess of their bodies. "We need to shower," he comments.

The Angel sits up straight at that, still straddling his hips, an unfamiliar, hungry gleam in his eyes. "Shower sex?" he asks.

Ace is so shocked he chokes on his own spit before exploding into full-blown laughter. Taking the laughter as consent, Luffy drags his brother to the bathroom.

Idly, as his Angel pins him to the shower wall and makes good on his promise to please him, Ace wonders what he's created.

* * *

**So how was it? **

**And don't any of you try to tell me that you were not picturing the possible things they did in bed and in the shower because you are LYING and we all know it and I do not tolerate that.**

**Leave a review! ^^  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	4. Wild

_****_**Guys. _GUYS._  
**

**I did it! I finished one of the longer shots that had been bugging me! I'm so proud of myself. And since all of you are wonderful and reviewed and said lovely things, I'm posting it now instead of making you wait. Two chapters in a row! WOOT! You have to wait for the next one though. I haven't finished it yet.  
**

**Okay, so this one is an AU of the Soulmates!verse, one in which Ace and Luffy live on a "deserted" island that the Whitebeard Pirates happen to stumble upon. Honestly, I cannot tell you where this came from. There was a logical thought process at the time, but I have long since forgotten, so now it just seems like some random tangent. Which it likely still would be even if I could remember how I came up with it, so WHO CARES! WEEEEEEEEE! XD  
**

**Ahem. I apologize. It's like one in the morning right now. My mind is a little out of it.  
**

**Moving on.  
**

**Characters: AcexLuffy, Marco, Thatch, Izo, Hrauta, Vista, Whitebeard, Makino (because she doesn't get enough love)  
Warnings: implied violence, talk of large-scale massacre, Tenryubito being Tenryubito (aka the biggest dicks on the planet), angst with a side of fluff  
**

**Disclaimer: I didn't own it four hours ago, I don't own it now.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Wild~**_

_Strangers are on their island. Powerful strangers that smell of the sea and freedom._

* * *

When the Whitebeard Pirates stop at the deserted island, they don't expect to find much. Maybe some edible wildlife to add to the all-important food supply, a little downtime to explore and relax. But life has this thing about going as planned; it doesn't. Ever.

So when the infamous pirate crew arrive at this island, obviously, nothing will turn out the way they expect it to.

Because life is a bitch like that.

But sometimes – just _some_, mind – that isn't always a bad thing.

* * *

Thatch is convinced the island is out to get them.

That's the _third_ time a tree has almost crushed him. Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times? Someone is clearly trying to get rid of them.

"I'm serious, Vista," he says, glaring at the tree that just missed him, "Something's going on here."

Vista just sighs. "I'm not saying you're wrong," he placates, "I'm just saying you don't need to go off on a tangent every time something tries to kill you."

Thatch's eyes narrow. "So you admit something is trying to kill me."

Vista just rolls his eyes.

"You guys coming or what?" Haruta calls from up ahead.

Thatch huffs. "We're coming, we're coming."

The three continue their trek through the woods, until the fourth tree falls. Vista holds up a hand before Thatch even opens his mouth.

"Don't even say it. We get it," he says.

"Something is weird though," Haruta comments, "It feels like we're being watched."

"See!" Thatch practically yells, pointing in the female commander's direction.

"Thatch, we know you aren't actually threatened by falling trees, so please stop being over dramatic," Haruta deadpans.

Thatch pouts. "Fine."

No sooner is the word out of his mouth when a series of loud cracks echoes above them. Without even thinking about it, the three commanders jump aside, large, _flaming_ branches landing where they had been standing just moments ago. Searching the trees, Thatch catches the outline of a person, sharp intense eyes glaring down at him.

"There!" he calls right as the figure takes off into the trees.

The three of them take off after it, surprised by its agility. They run to a cliff and when they look up, they see a boy at the top. He's somewhere in his mid-teens with dark hair and deep brown eyes. The freckles that are spattered across his cheeks should make him look childish, but don't as he stares blankly down at them, expression impassive, but eyes dark and dangerous. He's shirtless, wearing only a pair of black shorts and black flats, a string of red beads hanging around his neck, an orange elbow guard on his left arm. Something black is visible on his left upper arm, it looks like a tattoo of some kind, a series of letters, but they are too far away to make out exactly what it is. He's carrying what looks like a piece of pipe, long enough to be used as a staff.

Before anything can be said, the boy pushes a large bolder over the edge of the cliff, the movement starting a small avalanche. When the commanders look up after the rocks have cleared, the boy is gone.

"Looks like this island isn't as deserted as we thought," Thatch says seriously, "And it looks like we aren't exactly welcome."

* * *

Marco sighs mentally as Izo continues to complain behind him. If it was such as hassle to come, why did he? But Marco bites his tongue, knowing this will just get him even more complaints. Ones that will be directed straight at him.

He's distracted by the sight that greets them when they clear the tree line.

It looks like a village. Or what used to be a village anyway. It looks like it's been abandoned for years. The buildings are in ruins, crumbling and charred. Plants have begun growing over everything, weaving their way through streets, around fences, between stones. Marco and Izo exchange silent glances before they begin shifting through the ruins.

"This was an attack," Izo comments softly, voice carrying in the silence, "I wonder what happened."

Marco stills as a soft sound reached his ears. "Do you hear that?"

Izo perks up, listening.

The sound of soft humming filters through the quiet. The sound is high and clearly has no rhythm, but it is light and happy. Curious, the two commanders follow the humming. Slowly and carefully, they make their way to the edge of the destroyed village. What they see stuns them.

It's a grave site.

And it's _massive_.

There are well over one hundred markers and it's not hard to guess that these used to be the people that lived in the village. The odd thing is, that, unlike the village, the graves have been maintained, cared for. The soft humming echoes between the markers and it isn't long before a young boy wanders into sight. He's small, eleven or twelve years at the oldest, and skinny. He's shirtless, wearing only a pair of worn, blue shorts and a pair of sandals. A straw hat that is a bit too big for him covers a head tangled black locks. His face is round and childish, wide eyes shining with happy innocence, a small scar under his left eye. He carries a long, staff-like pipe in one hand and a bag in the other. He walks among the graves, stopping at each marker and reaching into the bag, pulling out a rock or a flower or some other kind of trinket and placing it on the marker before moving onto the next one, humming a tune that is starting to sound like an old pirate song.

"Isn't this island supposed to be deserted?" murmurs Izo.

"Apparently not," Marco replies.

They must not have been as silent as they thought they were, because the boy suddenly freezes, straightening up and glancing in their direction. A number of emotions flash across his face, surprise, curiosity, and fear among them. He drops the bag, gripping his metal staff with both hands as he falls into a fighting stance, wide eyes never leaving them.

Marco immediately holds his hands up. "Easy," he says, "We're not here to hurt you."

The boy tilts his head to the side slightly, focusing solely on Marco. The Phoenix suddenly feels an unknown weight on him as the boy's eyes lock on his, searching. After what seems like hours to Marco, the little boy nods, slowly dropping his stance, tearing his eyes away and picking up his bag again, continuing as he was before. Marco can breathe again after the boy removes his eyes, and he wonders what just happened. He felt as if had been laid bare in front of this child, that he was able to see everything with a single glance.

"You alright?" Izo asks, noticing his slightly shaken expression as the boy starts humming again.

"Yeah," Marco says, his eyes following the boy's every move.

When the boy finishes his strange task, he bounces over to them and grins, all traces of earlier caution gone as he examines the pair of them, sounds of wonder and curiosity escaping his mouth. But not once does the boy speak.

"Do you have a name?" Izo asks when the boy pokes at one of his guns. The boy just grins and doesn't say a word.

"Can you speak?" Marco tries.

The boy just covers his mouth with his hands and giggles.

"I wonder if he can even understand us," Izo says.

Marco sighs. "I don't know. What should we do with him though? We haven't seen anyone else on this island. Can we just leave him here?"

"Well, it's clear he's been managing on his own fine," Izo comments, "But maybe bring him back to the ship and see what Oyaji thinks?"

The boy whirls around and looks up at Izo, eyes wide and a sound of wonderment escaping his lips. Izo blinks in confusion at the sudden excitement of the child, but Marco grins.

"Ship?" he asks. And sure enough, the boy turns to him, practically bouncing in place. "Do you want to see our ship?"

The boy nods, grabbing Marco's hand and tugging on it eagerly.

"Well I guess that answers that question," Izo says with a grin.

* * *

They reach the ship at the same time as Thatch's group. The little boy runs ahead, eyes wide with excitement, as the ship comes into view.

"So you found one too?" Haruta asks.

Marco frowns at her. "Too? You meant there's another one?"

"Yes," Vista says, "A little older than yours. Not nearly as friendly though."

Thatch snorts. "Friendly? The brat tried to kill us with trees, flaming branches, and rocks!"

"Well this kid didn't exactly welcome us either," Izo buts in before Thatch can get started on a full blown rant, "He looked ready to attack us when we first found him. One look at Marco though, and we've got the happy, bouncy kid you see now."

That statement gets raised eyebrows.

"How does that work?" Thatch asks.

Marco frowns. "I don't know. I can tell you one thing though, this kid isn't normal," Marco pauses, pressing his lips, "When he looked at me…it was like he was seeing _all_ of me. I don't really know how to explain it."

Before anyone can comment, yells start coming from the ship.

"What the – !"

"Is that a kid?"

"Where the hell'd that kid come from?"

Marco sighs. "Let's go before they hurt themselves."

When the five commanders pull themselves up on deck, the sight that greets them is an interesting one. The kid is running around the deck, looking at anything and everything, while several of the crew attempt to catch him. Attempt being the key word. The boy somehow manages to escape every single time, no one ever managing to lay a hand on him.

He looks up and his eyes widen before he practically dives at Marco, yanking insistently at his sleeve and pointing up. The Phoenix follows his finger and sees that he is pointing at their jolly roger. But he doesn't look scared. In fact, he looks excited.

"Hm? That's our flag," he says, "We're pirates."

The boy grins, showing his pearly whites, eyes wide with wonder and curiosity. He points at the tattoo on Marco's chest and then points back to the flag.

Marco nods. "This tattoo is our mark," he explains, "Everyone in the crew wears it somewhere, either on their body or clothes."

He boy looks thoughtful for a moment, like he's mulling over Marco's words. Then he takes Marco's hand and pulls him to Thatch. He takes the Fourth Division Commander's hand and puts it on Marco's, before he pulls in Haruta. The others look on confused at what the silent boy is doing, but Marco thinks he understands.

"Family?" he asks.

The boy stops in the process of dragging Izo and Vista over and nods at Marco, pointing to his tattoo and then the commander's connected hands.

"Oh, so that's what he's asking," Thatch says, tugging his hand free. He kneels down in front of the kid and winks. "You bet, kid. We're all nakama. It means we're family. Our captain is our Oyaji and we're his sons."

"And daughters," Haruta adds.

The boy beams like they've just said the most wonderful thing.

"Speaking of," Marco says, "We need to report in."

"How 'bout it, kid?" Thatch asks, grinning, "Wanna meet Oyaji?"

The kid nods enthusiastically, grin never leaving his face, and he eagerly follows the commanders. When they reach Whitebeard, he stares, eyes going wide, jaw going slack. He tugs on Marco's shirt until the man looks down at him and then he throws his arms wide in the universal gesture for 'big', wonder clearly visible in his expression. Marco just chuckles at him.

"Well this is unexpected," Whitebeard says, eyeing the boy, who stares right back at him, completely unafraid and not even slightly intimidated.

"Found him on the island," Marco explains, "We came across a village, or what used to be one anyway. Massive grave site as well. Found this little guy wondering around, leaving trinkets on the markers."

Whitebeard looks down at the boy. "Paying our respects were we?"

The boy smiles, a positive hum sounding through his lips.

"We also haven't been able to get a word out of him," Izo adds, "But it's clear he's not mute."

"He's also not the only one," Thatch pipes up, "We ran into another boy, bit older than him, but a lot less friendly. Dropped a few trees and a ton of rocks on us."

The sound of laughter has them all turning to the boy and when he notices their looks, he throws his hands over his mouth in an attempt to smother himself.

"I'm guessing that they know each other," Vista deadpans.

"So it would seem," Haruta agrees.

Whitebeard eyes the boy, his gaze lingering on the straw hat covering his hair. "So you live on the island, boy?"

Looking up at being addressed, the kid nods.

"That straw hat you've got looks familiar," the Yonko continues, aware of the way the boy perks up at the mention of the hat, "Looks just like the one a brat named Shanks I know used to wear."

The boy practically glows at the mention of Shanks, pulling the too big hat further down over his head, a large smile forming on his face. His reaction earns a few chuckles from the surrounding crew.

Before anything else can be said though, the five commanders surrounding the kid are forced to jump away from him when a fireball comes flying right at them, scorching the deck where they were just standing. There's an inhuman growling and suddenly another boy is standing between them and the kid, flames licking across his arms and shoulders. Thatch, Haruta, and Vista immediately recognize him as the boy they encountered earlier. But he's different now. Now he has large black wings and crimson horns. A black tail has sprouted as well and his dark brown eyes are now a glowing, bloody red. Whispers break out among the crew and some even show fear at the appearance of an entity most believe to be a myth in this day and age. The Demon. He snarls at them, charging forward with a deadly swing of the metal staff in his hands.

The boy is strong, to say the least. Far stronger than anyone his age should be. He comes very close to landing a few blows on the five commanders, whom he is fighting all at once, though the commanders are reluctant to raise their hands against the boy. He lunges at the closest pirate, which happens to be Marco, when it happens.

"ACE!"

The one word echoes over the sudden silence of the ship.

And suddenly, the younger boy is between Marco and the attacking Demon, his own staff raised to catch the one coming down, and the crew realizes it was the boy who called out. The older boy's – Ace? – eyes widen and he leaps back, away from the commanders, the younger boy between them. Ace glares, crimson eyes burning . The boy shakes his head.

The pirates watch as the two stare each other down, expressions changing, eyes burning, an occasional hand raised in some sort of gesture. But neither of them speak. Ace shakes his head furiously, making to charge again, but the boy cuts him off, white wings suddenly exploding from his back to box the older boy in. Ace snarls, crimson eyes flashing, as he skids to a halt in front of the younger. The crew can only stare at the events unfolding before them.

They have the Angel and the Demon on their ship. At the same time. There were old stories about these two; most of the world didn't believe in them these days, but the evidence was staring them right in the face. The Angel and Demon were famous for their bloody battles and they couldn't help but wonder if one was about to take place.

Ace glares furiously at the smaller boy in front of him, who glares right back, crimson meeting silver. Neither of them move for the longest time until the younger subtly gestures in Whitebeard's direction. Ace frowns, almost reluctantly turning his glare to the Yonko. The crew tenses, waiting for an attack while Whitebeard just sits back and passively watches the little Demon in front of him. Slowly, his glare softens and his posture relaxes. Whitebeard is caught off guard by the spark of pure _awe_ he sees in the boy's glowing eyes. Ace turns back to the younger boy, who is watching him curiously. Finally, he sighs and nods. The younger boy beams and closes his wings around the Demon in some sort of odd embrace before the feathery white appendages pull back, sliding back under skin and the silver fades from his eyes. When Ace is revealed again, his wings are gone and he looks like a normal kid again. Brown eyes open and stare at the boy in front of him. He shakes his head before making his way to the railing, perching on it and watching the crew carefully. His eyes are distrustful and his body language is protective. The message is quiet clear.

_You hurt him, you die._

The boy either doesn't notice or completely ignores the threat that radiates off Ace, instead rushing forward and brushing hands over the scorched and damaged parts of the deck, eyes flashing silver, and the crew watches as the ship seems to repair itself. Ace huffs and the boy just grins at him before bouncing over to Whitebeard and _climbing into his lap_. The crew gapes at the kid's bold move while Whitebeard just throws his head back and laughs.

"So that's Ace?" he asks, gesturing to where the older boy is watching them with sharp eyes.

The boy nods.

"Can you tell me your name?"

As he opens his mouth, Ace hisses a warning and his mouth snaps shut. He looks up apologetically at the Yonko, who just chuckles.

"Can you tell me how the two of you ended up on this island?" he asks.

The boy's brow furrows like he doesn't understand the question, he peeks over his shoulder at Ace, who just snorts like the question is one of the dumbest things he's heard. Confused, the boy shakes his head at Whitebeard, who seems to understand. "You've always been here?"

Slowly, the boy nods.

"Then can you tell me how the two of you ended up alone?"

The boy's eyes cloud over at that, becoming lost in memory and a pained, involuntary whimper escapes his throat. Ace hears it from his perch on the rail and starts to hum softly and soothingly, though the crew can see the shadows on his face as well. The boy seems to snap out of his daze and he clenches his hand over his heart, face sad as he shakes his head. Whitebeard hums in sympathy and gently pats the boy on the head.

"Well I don't think this island is a place for children," he says.

"Oyaji," Vista starts, "Are you suggesting…"

"I don't see why not," Whitebeard cuts in, "Can you honestly tell me it would be best to leave them here?"

"It's not that, Oyaji," Izo says.

"I know. But it doesn't change my decision."

The boy tugs on Whitebeard's captain's jacket, looking up at the giant man curiously.

"What would you and your friend say to coming with us?" the captain asks in response to the silent question.

The boy's eyes widen and a delighted gasp passes his lips as he gleefully turns to Ace, who looks both stunned and slightly hopeful at the offer. The two lock eyes, having another silent conversation, before the boy turns back to the giant man a slightly worried look on his face.

"Makino," he says, slightly cautious, like he's afraid of what the pirate will say.

Whitebeard raises an eyebrow. "Makino?"

The boy presses his lips, thoughtful, before he suddenly brightens, climbing down from the Yonko's lap and walking over to Marco. He presses a small hand to the Phoenix's chest, right over his tattoo and says, "Makino."

Marco blinks, before smiling in understanding. "Makino is family," he says to his captain.

"So there's someone else on the island, is there? Wouldn't be fair to leave them behind," Whitebeard says.

Marco nods before kneeling in front of the boy. "Makino can come," he says and smiles slightly when both boys relax, "Why don't we go and get Makino? And anything else you want to take?"

The boy smiles, excited and happy and innocent, and takes Marco's hand.

* * *

Thatch and Marco trail behind the boys as they lead the way through the forest. Ace keeps glancing at them, distrust clear in his eyes, but there is also this silent, cautious wonder. The boy whose name they have yet to learn runs circles around them, laughing and smiling without a care in the world and Ace looks after him with fond exasperation. They come to a tree, one of the largest on the island, and the boy eagerly points up. The commanders look and are met with the sight of a large tree house. A little higher in the branches, they can make out another structure that looks similar to a crow's nest with a branch through the center looking like a flag pole, though no flag is present. They follow the boys up, easily climbing the tall tree.

The tree house is built as a large, one room home. It's mostly empty, random belongings scattered about. A bed is tucked into the far corner; next to it is a pile of blankets and pillows arranged almost like a nest. Over the bed, hung on the wall is a pirate flag, a crossbones with the letters "ASL" over them. There is a rectangular table a ways away with two benches, one on either side, and a single chair lined with cushions at one of the heads. Two red apples sit on the table. The wall closest to the table is a series of cabinets and a fireplace that appears to work as a makeshift stove. A young woman, maybe in her early twenties, stands by it, her back turned to them. She has long, dark green hair that goes to her elbows tied back in a ponytail at the base of her neck, a dark purple bandana tied over her head. She's wearing a worn forest green blouse and orange skirt that stops halfway down her shins. Her feet are bare and her skin is calloused.

"Welcome back," she says, without turning and the commanders are a little surprised at how readily she speaks, "I finished your shirts, try not to rip them again, we don't have much material left. Those apples are for you, but they're the last ones so you'll have to get some more. Do either of you want some tea?" She picks up the kettle from the stove and turns to face them.

She freezes at the sight of them, dark hazel eyes going wide and a gasp of surprise escaping her mouth. The commanders are now given a good look at her face and what they see surprises them; she has a deep scar that runs from her left temple, between her eyes, ending at her right cheek. Despite this, she is still very pretty, the air around her gentle and kind. In her surprise, she turns quickly, only for a look of pain to come across her face. She manages to put the kettle back on the stove before she falls to her knees, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other braced on the floor, holding her up.

The boys rush forward, identical expressions of concern on their faces.

The woman waves them off with a smile. "It's fine, it's fine," she says.

Ace completely ignores her and in a show of strength, effortlessly scoops her up into his arms. He carries her over to the table and places her in the chair, the younger boy snatching a blanket from the nest and rushing to place it over her lap, carefully smoothing over her legs. The woman chuckles and catches his hands.

"It's fine, Luffy," she says gently, "I'm alright. Go put your shirt on and eat your apple."

The boy – Luffy – stares at her blankly for a moment, before smiling and bouncing over to the bed, pulling on a red t-shirt with a monkey on it. Ace isn't so quick to leave, but eventually does, retrieving the kettle and pouring the tea into mismatch cups from one of the cabinets.

The woman turns back to the concerned commanders and smiles. "Please come in," she says.

"We didn't mean to startle you," Marco apologizes as he and Thatch take the offered seats.

She waves away his apology. "It's fine," she says, "We're just not used to guests. It's been almost five years since we've had any visitors on the island."

Thatch raises an eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit long? What about merchant ships?"

She shook her head. "They stopped coming," she says softly, shadows of old wounds crossing her eyes before they suddenly clear again, "Oh! I'm Makino by the way."

"Marco. This is Thatch."

Makino smiles. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you," she says as Ace sets down three cups of tea in front of them.

He hovers there until she ruffles his dark hair. He huffs, grabbing the apples and tosses one to Luffy, who catches it from his place on the bed. Ace plops down next to him, slipping on a pale yellow, short sleeve shirt, leaving the front hanging open to expose his chest, before biting into his apple.

"I have to ask though," Makino says after taking a sip of her tea, "Marine or pirate?"

"Pirate," Thatch says with an easy grin.

Makino returns it with a laugh. "How exciting! We haven't had any pirate visitors since Shanks left five years ago."

Luffy pulls his hat over his head with a little giggle. "Shanks!" he says gleefully.

"I'm guessing there's a story behind that," Thatch says while Marco chuckles.

"Luffy has always liked pirates, pretty much since the cradle. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was his first word," she chuckles, "When Shanks showed up, the two bonded instantly. It was rather adorable actually. Though it is Shanks's fault that Luffy has a Devil Fruit power."

"Devil Fruit power?" Marco asks, glancing at the grinning boy.

Ace reaches up and pulls on Luffy's cheek. It stretches farther than what should be humanly possible. Thatch and Marco stare as Ace lets go and the skin snaps back into place.

"Gomu Gomu no Mi!" Luffy exclaims brightly.

"Ace has one as well. The Mera Mera no Mi I believe it was called," she says. Ace holds up a hand and his fingers catch fire.

Makino giggles, drawing attention back to her. "Shanks left Luffy's Devil Fruit out and Luffy has a tendency to eat everything in sight," she explained, earning an eye roll from Ace and amused smirks from the commanders, "Shortly after that, there was an incident where Shanks saved Luffy's life at the cost of his left arm."

_That_ got the commander's attention. They remembered the uproar that had occurred when the Red-Haired Yonko returned to the Grand Line with only one arm. No one outside of his crew ever learned who he had lost it too and whenever he was asked, he would always give the same answer.

"_I made a bet on the new age."_

"When Shanks left, he and Luffy made a promise," Makino continues, unaware of the thoughts rolling around the commanders' heads, "Shanks left his hat with Luffy to represent that promise."

"Which is?" Marco asks, admittedly curious.

Makino smiles. "He's going to be –"

"Pirate King!" Luffy interrupts, his grin all determination. The fire in his eyes and the truth in his voice resonates with the commanders and they think that maybe they can see what made the rival Yonko bet on this kid.

"That's quite the goal," Thatch says.

Luffy giggles and Ace shakes his head, but the older boy's lips are twitching and it's easy to tell he's fighting a smile. Makino watches them with a fond smile.

"How did the three of you meet?" Marco wonders aloud.

"I've known Luffy since he was a baby. He was in and out of my tavern ever since he learned to walk," Makino says, "I didn't meet Ace until he was ten, when Luffy stared living with him. Their relationship is a bit…complicated. They're brothers, but more at the same time. To each other…well…" she trails off, eyes wondering down to the boys intertwined fingers.

"To each other?" Thatch asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Soulmates," Luffy says, beaming proudly. Ace's face remains indifferent, but they can all see the way his hand tightens around the Angel's.

"Just think of them as brothers," Makino says, "It's easier than trying to puzzle out the depth of their relationship. Only the two of them seem to really understand it anyways."

The boys have stopped paying attention to the conversation. Ace is busy wiping the apple juice from Luffy's face and then licking it from his fingers while Luffy squirms and giggles. The commanders would be lying if they said it wasn't cute.

"So what brought you to our island?" Maknio asks.

"Nothing in particular," Marco replies, "We were just stopping to take a break, I suppose."

"Then we ran into these two troublemakers," Thatch says, jerking a thumb at the two boys.

"And I suppose they didn't exactly welcome you," Makino says, looking right at Ace. The teen looks slightly apologetic for a moment before it's gone.

"They weren't that bad," Thatch waves away her concerns.

"Our captain has decided to take the boys with us when we leave," Marco says, "They refused to go without you though."

Makino looks stunned, her expression equal parts hope and disbelief. "Leave?" she whispers softly, shock heavy in her tone.

Ace and Luffy watch from the bed, leaning forward slightly with concerned looks.

Marco frowns slightly. "Do you not want to leave?"

That snaps Makino out of her shock. "No, no! I'm very grateful for the offer," she says quickly, "I'm just not sure you or your captain understands what it means that your offer was accepted."

Thatch raises an eyebrow. "What it means?"

"I'm sure by now you've noticed the boys aren't exactly…normal," she says slowly, unsure.

"If you mean that whole thing about them being the mythical Angel and Demon, then yeah, we got that lesson already," Thatch says with a shrug. Marco rolls his eyes next him.

Makino gives them a small smile. "Their…circumstances growing up have been a little rough, to say the least," she says, "Luffy has always been very trusting by nature, though if he has doubts about you, he looks into your core to see what kind of person you are." Marco's eyes widen slightly at that. "Ace is not as trusting; with perfectly good reasoning. But for both of them to agree so easily," she pauses, glancing at the boys, "You must have made quiet the impression on them."

Thatch and Marco trade looks. "We didn't really do much of anything," Thatch says slowly.

Ace is looking at them thoughtfully, a spark of wonder in his dark eyes.

"Ace?" Makino asks.

He glances at her before turning back to the pirates. "Freedom," he says softly, speaking for the first time. "Smell free."

It's a simple statement, but the two commanders can feel the weight in it. Makino looks surprised before a small smile breaks out on her face and Luffy just grins up at the older boy.

"Well the sea's the freest place there is," Thatch says with a grin that becomes a full blown smile when Ace's lips twitch up into a smile of his own.

Marco smiles as well before turning back to Makino. "I was wondering if you could answer a question for me," he says. She looks curious and gestures for him to continue. "What exactly happened here? We found the village earlier; it was obvious that this didn't just happen."

Makino gives him a very sad, very pained smile. "You're right," she says softly, "It didn't just happen."

There is a pause and the atmosphere is suddenly tense. Makino's eyes cloud over and every line of her body screams sadness. She looks down at her empty cup, fidgeting with it slightly.

"It was a massacre," she whispers.

Luffy moves away from Ace, walking up to Makino and placing his hat on her head. She startles at the movement, but smiles softly when she realizes what he's done. Luffy grins back and climbs up on the chair next to her, carefully settling against her side and leaning into her cautiously, as if she's made of glass. Makino wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer and rubbing his arm.

"It happened about five years ago," Makino says, looking back up at the commanders, "Luffy and Ace, along with another boy named Sabo, had sworn to be brothers and fancied themselves pirates," she grinned fondly, but it was pained. Luffy rests his head on the woman's shoulder and Ace stares at the floor. It is easy to guess what had happened to their brother. He isn't here after all. "The three of them built this tree house as a hideout of sorts and lived here when they finished it. I'm sure you saw the crow's nest on the way up; they hung that flag up there," she gestured to the flag above the bed, "It's their flag; Ace, Sabo, and Luffy. ASL."

Makino sighs. "This is actually one of the biggest trees on the island and the top is visible from most anywhere on the island if anyone bothered to look. One day a ship was passing our island. It was big and important looking; it wasn't going to stop for such a small, back water island. It was a Tenryubito's ship." Makino pauses, pressing her lips into a fine line, her grip on Luffy unconsciously tightening. "Appearently, he saw the boys' pirate flag in the trees and took offense," she continues softly. Luffy turns, hiding his face in Makino's shoulder. Ace's eyes clench shut as an expression of guilt forms on his face.

Marco and Thatch close their eyes in realization. Over something so simple, over something that was just a childish game.

"He ordered the island's destruction," Makino says, "We're a small island, with only one village, so it wasn't much of a challenge for them. The boys weren't there when the attack started, but when they saw the fire, they came running. Ace is the one who found me; they'd split up," she explains, absentmindedly running her fingers through Luffy's hair, "He managed to carry me out of the village and he and Luffy brought me back here. The only reason I survived that day was because Ace cauterized the worst of my wounds." She places a hand on her lower abdomen almost automatically. "They patched me up the best they could, but they were only seven and ten at the time, far from trained doctors," Makino smiles sadly, "I've never fully healed and at this rate I think it's safe to say that I never will."

Luffy makes an unhappy sound, reaching up to trace the scar on her face. Makino smiles and gently takes his hand, placing a kiss on his forehead.

"By the time the boys had finished treating me, the attack had ended and the Tenryubito had left. Ace left Luffy to watch over me before heading back to town. He was gone all night." Makino pauses, swallowing, a pained look coming to her face. "When he came back the next morning, he was carrying Sabo's body. Ace told us that Sabo loved us and that Luffy should never give up on his dream. He never told us what happened when he found him," she whispers brokenly.

One of Ace's hands is fisted in the sheets of the bed, his shoulders shaking as he glares at the floor, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. His other is tightly gripping the crossed out S tattooed on his arm, which the commanders now realize is not a mistake but a tribute. Luffy is shaking as well, tucking himself further into Makino's side, trying to become as small as possible.

"The boys buried him on a cliff that over looked the sea. He wanted to set sail when he turned seventeen," Makino goes on after taking a deep, steadying breath, "When they decided I was well enough to leave on my own for a while, they went back to the village and buried everyone. I'm sure you've seen the grave site," she says and Marco nods solemnly, "They looked for survivors; all over the island. But it was just us. We were the only ones left."

She pauses for a moment, her lips trembling. "Ace and Luffy went quiet after that, only speaking when it was necessary to communicate with me. It took a while to get used to," she says softly, "They used to be so loud."

She chuckles and it's a watery sound. Luffy looks up in concern, eyes wide and worried and innocent despite everything they've seen. Ace shuffles slightly on the bed.

"Sorry," he whispers, "Our fault."

Luffy reaches up and traces the scar on Makino's face again. "Our fault," he echoes.

Makino's eyes are sad and the pirates can tell they've had this conversation many times. "No, no," she says softly, "You two have done nothing wrong. Nothing that happened that day was your fault."

The boys nod, but it's painfully obvious that they don't believe her.

"She's right," Marco breaks in gently, "The Tenryubito are a group of people who believe themselves above the law. They do what they please and have little concern for any form of life outside of their own. The rest of the world is nothing but trash to them."

Thatch nods. "If it was a Tenryubito, then it was definitely not your fault. They were probably just bored and looking for some sport," he says, face wrinkling with distaste.

The boys look at them, blinking in surprise. Makino smiles at them and mouths her thanks over Luffy's head.

"Well," she says, breaking the tense, solemn atmosphere, a bright grin making its way to her face, "If we're leaving then I suppose we need to pack."

The boys jump up, shifting through their belongings and grabbing bags to put them in. Makino laughs and carefully pushes herself up, walking to the wall and grabbing the bright orange hat hanging from a hook on it. A string of red beads sits around its brim and two smilies, one grinning and one frowning, rest among the beads.

"Why don't you two go say goodbye? We can take care of this," she says, placing the hat on Ace's head.

The two stop and glance at each other before nodding to Makino and heading out the makeshift door.

"They are very strong," Marco comments after they've left.

"They always have been," Makino says.

The three of them begin packing. Marco and Thatch stuff all of the clothes into a bag, while Makino grabs a few trinkets. After everything has been packed away, she carefully removes the pirate flag from the wall and folds it up, placing it in the bag before closing it. Even with all of that, there belongings are still few and between the three of them, only two large bags are filled.

"Well, that's everything," Makino says.

Thatch grins at her. "Ready?"

She slips on a pair of black flats and nods, running a hand along the wood of the wall. "Yes," she says, smiling softly.

Thatch grabs the bags and Marco scoops up Makino, who blushes while apologizing profusely at having to be carried only to be brushed off good naturedly, and the pirates jump from the tree house, landing effortlessly on the ground. Ace and Luffy are waiting for them, metal staffs in hand. The pair walk over to Makino and Luffy smiles up at her.

"Sabo loves you," he says.

"I love him too," Makino says with a grin, kissing the tip of her pointer finger and pressing it to the S on Ace's arm, "But you know it's not really goodbye, right?"

The boys nod and Makino smiles at them as Luffy grabs Thatch and Marco's hands and begins dragging them through the trees, Ace rolling his eyes as he trails after them next to her, helping her over tree roots and making sure she doesn't fall. When they reach the Moby Dick, Luffy drags her to Whitebeard. Considering what they've seen of her so far, Marco and Thatch aren't that surprised by her reaction to meeting the Strongest Man in the World. The rest of the crew, however, is left to gape in shock at her lack of fear and intimidation.

Luffy stops before Whitebeard, holding Makino's hand. Ace is on her other side, much more relaxed than he was during his previous visit.

"Giant Ossan!" Luffy cries, beaming up at the Yonko.

Marco can't help the smile that forms on his face and Thatch stifles a snicker. The other commanders have similar reactions.

Luffy tugs Makino forward. "Makino," he says.

Whitebeard chuckles. "So you're Makino, are you?"

The woman smiles and gives a slight bow. "I am. It is a pleasure to meet you Whitebeard-san."

"Gurararararara! You're a polite one."

"If you don't mind, Whitebeard-san, may I ask a question?" Makino asks, looking up at the giant man. When he nods, she continues. "What do you plan to do with us?"

"Do with you?" Whitebeard muses.

"Even if I was at full health, I'm sure I would be of little use to you," Makino says, curling an arm around each boy, resting a hand on their shoulders. "The boys, as I'm sure you've seen by now, have potential, but they are still just children. What I'm asking is whether or not you are intending for us to stay, or if you plan to drop us at the next island."

The boys' eyes go wide as they look first at Makino and then Whitebeard, an action that does not go unnoticed by the man. Makino's gaze remains on the Yonko, level and firm, silently challenging as she squeezes the boys' shoulders. It isn't hard for Whitebeard to figure out he is being tested.

"It would be rather dangerous for the three of you to stay with us," he says.

"It would," Makino agrees.

Whitebeard levels his gaze on the boys. "Why do you boys want to come with us?" he asks.

Ace and Luffy trade a look before turning back to the Yonko. "Freedom," they say in unison.

Whitebeard grins. "Then welcome aboard!" he says.

Makino smiles. "Thank you, Whitebeard-san."

* * *

That night, they get ready to set sail the next morning.

Ace and Luffy sit outside the infirmary, not moving, staring relentlessly at the door. Makino had been dragged away by the nurses when Marco and Thatch had relayed the trio's story to their captain. It had been hours, but the two hadn't moved since the nurses had closed the door in their faces. Luffy leans into his older brother, clutching his hand while Ace buries his face in the younger's hair.

Finally, the door opens and a nurse steps out, smiling down at them kindly. The Angel and Demon stand, staring up at the nurse with concerned expressions.

"She'll be fine," the nurse says, and the pair sighs in relief, "We managed to fix some of the internal damage and with some physical therapy, she'll regain some of her strength. She won't ever be as healthy as she was before," she warns, "But she will get better."

Ace nods and Luffy glances at the door, eyes wide and pleading.

"You can see her. But be careful, and don't disturb her to much or we'll make you leave," the nurse says firmly, but gently, "She's still recovering from surgery."

The boys nod before quietly entering. Makino is lying on one of the beds, an IV hooked up to her arm, sleeping peacefully. Luffy rushes over, slowing only to take off his shoes and put his hat on the little table next to the bed before pulling back the covers and carefully climbing into the bed, curling into the sleeping woman's side. Ace is slower, but he copies his brother, removing his shoes and hat before laying down on Makino's other side above the covers, his body its own heat source. He reaches over, ruffling his brother's hair and brushing fingers across Makino's cheek before curling up and falling asleep with a small smile on his face.

About an hour later, Marco is doing rounds and finds Makino awake, her arms wrapped loosely around the boys, lightly stroking their dark hair. She smiles at him and he returns it; it's hard not to when faced with a scene like that. The shadows that both boys carry seem to have vanished into thin air, Makino's presence providing a warm, safe blanket of security.

"You're stuck with them now, you know," she whispers softly across the room as he silently pads over to her, "They aren't going to leave this ship unless they want to."

Marco smirks. "So it seems," he says lightly, voice just as soft, "They really care about you."

"We take care of each other," she replies.

Marco tucks the sheets a little tighter around Luffy's slumbering form and readjusts Ace's position so that he's not in danger of falling off the bed. "You're nakama now," he tells her, "We'll take care of you too."

She smiles up at him, hazel eyes brimming with hope and grateful tears. "Thank you," she whispers.

"Anytime," Marco replies with an easy grin, "Get some sleep."

Makino gives him one last smile before closing her eyes and pulling her boys closer, quickly falling asleep, her body still exhausted from her earlier treatment. Marco shakes his head fondly as he quietly exits the room. Already, those three have earned places on the ship.

It seems life at sea just got a little more interesting.

* * *

**So there you have it. I might do more of this AU later on. I kind of like it. What did you guys think?**

**Review!  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	5. Dance

_****_**Hello, my lovelies!  
**

**So I'm almost finished with that other long shot, but it's been a week, so I thought I'd give you all something to hold you over until I can wrap it up.  
**

**This is just a short little shot about nakamaship, can be a ship I guess, if that floats your boat, not really AceLu though. Sorry. But I think it's cute. Mostly because it's Luffy and he's never NOT cute, but I digress. Anyway, this takes place just after the gang leaves Water 7.  
**

**Characters: Luffy, Robin, mentions of Ace.  
Warnings: fluff, cuddling, Luffy being coordinated  
**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Oda. Nuf said.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Dance~**_

_Sometimes a night under the stars is all that is needed._

* * *

Robin knows he is coming before he gets there.

It's their first night on the Thousand Sunny and she has second watch. She's up in the crow's nest, a blanket, book, and a thermos of coffee her company for the night. She isn't reading right now though, just looking out over the sea and watching the stars, wondering over everything that's happened in the past few days. For the first time in years, she feels at home, safe and secure. Protected by people who love her.

She supposes she shouldn't be surprised when Luffy climbs up into the crow's nest that night. He doesn't say anything, just stands behind her, unusually silent. Before Robin can say anything about his presence though, Luffy is pressed up against her back, arms wrapped around her waist. She feels his content sigh on the back of her neck. Robin is stunned. Luffy has always been an affectionate, touchy-feel person, but she has rarely been on the receiving end of it, the young captain always respecting her space.

"Luffy?" she asks.

Luffy hums, reaching up to take of his hat and place it on her head. Robin blinks at that, clearly remembering what happened the last time she had touched the hat way back before Alabasta. He rests his cheek on her shoulder, peering up at her with bright eyes.

"You're nakama," he says.

And the truth and sincerity in his voice makes her smile. "I know."

Luffy's grip around her tightens and for the first time she realizes how tense he is.

"I won't leave again," she says softly, smiling slightly as her captain relaxes against her.

They stay like that for a while, neither of them speaking, and for a moment, Robin almost believes that he's fallen asleep standing up when he pulls away. He tugs her around to face him, giving her that famous grin.

"Dance with me," he says.

And she is so surprised that by the time she is able to answer him, Luffy already has a hand on her waist and is gently guiding her through the steps. She smiles, bringing one hand up to his shoulder and placing the other in her captain's light grip.

"I wasn't aware you could dance, Captain-san," she says lightly.

Luffy grins. "Makino taught me back home," he explains.

"Makino?"

He nods. "She's this really nice lady that owns a tavern on the island I come from. She took care of me for a while when I was little."

And Robin finds herself smiling because Luffy never talks about his past; he lives firmly in the present. And yet here he is sharing a part of himself with her.

"She taught me and Ace all kinds of things," he continues, "Ace was really funny around her though, he blushed a lot."

Robin chuckles as Luffy leads her through the steps of the dance, his eyes on their feet. "Ace is your brother, right?"

"Yeah! He's a pirate just like me. Zoro says he's really strong because he's the second commander under Whitebeard or something like that, but I already knew Ace was strong," he says, with a confused furrow in his brow.

"But perhaps Zoro did not know he was that strong," she replies, unable to hide her amusement.

Luffy hums before looking up to meet her eyes. His eyes are dark and curious and a little worried, but he twirls her and when she is facing him again, there is a small smile on his lips.

"You remind me of Ace," he says, looking up at her with that small, fond smile. She tilts her head to the side, confused, but encouraging him to continue. Luffy stops, letting go of her hand to bring his to join the other on her waist. "You have shadows like he does," he says softly, seriously, "Ace doesn't think he deserves to live; he's trying to find his place."

And Robin knows that Luffy is trusting her with this, this piece of his family. She wonders how Ace sees Luffy; if he's that same unshakable foundation, that guiding light he is for her, for his brother.

"He's been hurt, just like you," Luffy continues, "But he's found people, is finding people, who make him want to live. Just like how you found us."

Luffy is grinning at her again and she can't help but smile back. Not one of her small, stoic smiles, but a true happy one that makes Luffy's grin that much wider. Eventually, when Robin sits down again, Luffy doesn't leave. Instead, he lies down, head in her lap and looks up at her.

"You're nakama, Robin," he says, and his eyes glow silver in the dark of the night, "Nakama are forever. You belong with us."

And Robin smiles, feeling the weight of the straw hat on her head, running slender fingers through her captain's dark hair. "I understand."

Luffy nods. "Good," he says, rolling over so he can nuzzle his face into her stomach as he wraps his arms around her thighs, "Don't leave again."

"I won't," she promises. She means it.

Luffy makes a happy, content sound and falls asleep sprawled out on his archeologist's lap. Robin just smiles and picks up her book, feeling lighter than she has in years. And it's all due to this one boy, this one determined, charismatic, dreamer of a boy that grabs onto you and refuses to let you go. Who makes you hope and believe again. Who shines a light on everything he touches. Who reaches out a hand to pull you up when you fall.

This one boy, who Robin has no doubt, will one day be Pirate King.

* * *

**So yeah. Just a little drabble thing. Sorry again about the lack of AceLu. It will be back in the next chapter! Promise! I just have to finish it...To Word!**

**Anyway, leave a review! It will help motivate me to get this chapter up. I think I can get it up within the next 24 hours...maybe...I think. There isn't that much left. I'm rambling now. I'm gonna go type.  
**

**Until next time!  
**

**~Elri  
**


	6. Mafia

**Guys. I did it. I freaking did it! I finished the other long shot!  
**

**Son! Son, _look it_. (grabs Son Goshen's shoulders and shakes) Look! I finished it! I finally finished it! YAY! And it's the longest shot so far to.  
**

**Ahem.  
**

**Please excuse me. I just got excited there for a moment.  
**

**Anyway, this is the shot I mentioned way back in the opening author's note of chapter 2. I was gonna post it in two parts but then I just decided, fuck it, I'll post it all at once because I worked hard on this damnit! This shot was inspired by Son Goshen's fic _Two Worlds_ (which you should totally go read if you haven't because it's AWESOME). Basically, Ace and Luffy get thrown into an alternate dimension and stuff happens, some angst on Ace's part and some stupidity on Luffy's because that's just how they roll. This shot takes place in the future, sometime after _The Pure and the Tinted_ but before _Intimate_. So whatever timeline you've decided in your head, stick this between those two events.  
**

**I wrote this mostly from the POV of the Mafia versions of the characters, but the actual plot of the chapter revolves around the Pirate versions of Ace and Lu, just so you know. Also, for you reference, the Whitebeard gang is dressed in Strong World attire; Straw Hats are in street clothes.  
**

**Characters: Ace (x2), Luffy (x2), Marco (x2), Whitebeard, Izo, Zoro (x2), Nami (x2), Robin, Chopper, Blackbeard  
Warnings: angst, lots of angst, self-doubt, fluff, people not understanding the mystery that is the Angel and Demon's relationship, Luffy breaking people's brains, oh and fluff  
**

**Disclaimer: Once again. NO.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Mafia~**_

_Ace and Luffy wake up after a battle only to find themselves separated and definitely __**not**__ in New World anymore._

* * *

Ace has no idea what he's looking at.

Ok. That's a lie.

He knows exactly what he's looking at.

It just makes absolutely no logical sense.

None.

At all.

There's another _him_ passed out in the middle of the warehouse.

He's bruised and a little battered, like he's just come out of a fight. He's wearing a pair of black shorts and an orange cowboy hat that's identical to his black one, smilies and all. No shirt joins his outfit, his prone, face-down position exposing his back. A tattoo that looks startlingly similar to the one he has on his own back is on his double's, though his covers a large scar right in the middle of his shoulder blades. It looks painful. Ace finds himself wondering what happened.

He turns to Marco standing next to him, seeing the same wide-eyed, shocked expression on his friend's face.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" he asks just to make sure.

"If you're seeing another you passed out on the floor, then no, you're not the only one seeing it," Marco answers.

Ace nods. "Just wanted to make sure."

"So what do we do with him?" Izo asks from Marco's other side.

"Put him in the back room."

The three of them, and pretty much everyone else in the warehouse who're staring dumbfounded at the scene, turn towards Whitebeards large form.

"We'll wait till he wakes up," the giant man says, "Then we can try and figure out what happened."

Marco and Ace exchange looks before both stepping forward and each slinging a limp arm over their shoulders.

* * *

"This. Is. So. COOL!" exclaims Luffy as he bounces in place, grinning at their unconscious guest. A guest who looks exactly like him.

Nami rolls her eyes at him before eying the unconscious from on the floor. "So what do we do with him? We can't leave him there."

Zoro shrugs. "What are we supposed to do with him? Chopper isn't even here; and I'm pretty sure a normal doctor is out. But he might need medical attention," he adds, gaze lingering on the various cuts and bruises.

"We can just keep him in the loft," Luffy says with a careless shrug.

"He's not a pet, Luffy!" Nami exclaims, "He's a person! Who just crashed into Sunny's lounge and happens to look exactly like you!"

"Yeah….Franky can fix it though," the teen says, surveying the damage with a smile.

Nami face palms and Zoro snorts before standing and throwing the unconscious teen over his shoulder. "To the loft it is," he drawls.

Luffy cheers while Nami just sighs in the background.

* * *

Marco sits next to the bed holding the other Ace, patiently waiting for the lookalike to wake up. It's been roughly two hours since he and Ace dragged him to this room and he hasn't so much as twitched. He really does look _exactly_ like Ace, so much so that it can't just be someone trying to impersonate him. The only thing that doesn't match between this stranger and his best friend is the huge scar in the center of his chest and back, as if he had been run through at some point in time. He wonders how the lookalike got it, how he _survived_ it because it's not just some make up decoration. It's real; they checked.

The blond man's musings are cut short when the other Ace suddenly groans, shifting slightly in the bed. His eyes flutter open, brown, just like his Ace's, and squint blearily at the ceiling.

"You awake?" Marco calls softly, so as not to startle him. Now that he's up, maybe they can get some answers.

The other Ace's head turns in his direction. "Marco?" he asks groggily.

Outwardly, Marco doesn't react. This copy knows who he is. That or he knows someone who looks just like him. And has the same name. "How are you feeling?"

He sits up, holding himself up with one arm while the other rubs his forehead. "I feel like I fell off a cliff and got thrown in the ocean," he groans.

Marco feels as if there if some context there, but he has no idea what it is. "That bad, huh?" he comments instead, keeping his tone bland and light.

"Yeah," Other-Ace says, not removing his hand from his eyes, "What happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Marco answers.

Other-Ace pulls himself all the way up, resting his elbows on his knees, hands gripping dark hair as he frowns in concentration. "There was…a fight," he says slowly, brow furrowed, "Me and Luffy…we got separated from the crew." Marco mentally raises an eyebrow at that. First him and now Luffy? He may never have met the kid, but Ace talked about his little brother often enough. He watches as Other-Ace's frown deepens. "We were…ambushed…"

He trails off, his entire body going tense as he jerks under some sort of realization.

"Ambushed by who?" Marco prompts gently.

"Shit," Other-Ace whispers, "_Shit._ We were ambushed by Teach!" Marco feels his insides freeze at that name. That cursed, god awful name. The name of the murdering traitor. "He attacked us and I blacked out. Damnit! Where's Luffy? Did he –"

Other-Ace cuts off as he finally looks up and takes in his surroundings, his worried and slightly panicked features falling into a carefully blank mask. The room they're in is small and fairly empty. There's the bed he's resting on as well as a small table and two chairs. The walls are blank and undecorated and the sole window in the room is small, too high to actually see anything out of. It's a break room of sorts, usually used when someone needs to crash for a while.

Marco doesn't like the way Ace as stopped talking, the way he's suddenly guarded. "You okay?" he asks carefully.

He doesn't even realize the lookalike has moved until he's been pinned to the wall, a strong forearm pressing against his throat and another at his chest. He clenches in slight panic. He didn't even see the man _move_.

"You're not Marco," Other-Ace says, voice low and cold, eyes glinting dangerously. His face is so close, Marco can feel the warm breath across his face every time the copy takes a breath. "Marco smells like fire and ash and rebirth and the sea. You don't. Marco would never put me in a _cage_," he spits the word venomously, was if its very existence is vile, and for a second, Marco can swear that those angry, deep brown eyes in front of him flash a bloody red, "_You did_."

Marco feels a thread of fear creep down his spine. This person might look like Ace, but he's different. There's a different air about him. He knows that Ace had a rough childhood and has been through a ton of shit. He knows that Ace manages to smile despite all of the hurt his heart has been through. Knows that deep down Ace is just an innocent kid that wants freedom. This person in front of him though, this Other-Ace, is acting like a cornered animal. His grip on Marco is unyielding and his eyes are dark and Marco really doesn't know if he's going to make it out of this one.

The sound of a gun cocking echoes in the silent room and Marco relaxes slightly at the sight of Izo pressing the barrel of one of his pistols to Other-Ace's head.

"I'd let him go if I were you," Izo says coolly.

Other-Ace's face doesn't change as he looks at Izo over his shoulder, but the anger in his eyes seems to grow. His body tenses, but for some reason, Marco gets the impression he isn't really all that threatened by the gun pointed at him. Still he pulls away from Marco and puts some space between them. He glares at them, moving so both of them are in front of him, stance defensive, the lines of his body tight with tension. The room seems to steadily growing warmer.

"Alright, brat, that's enough. Calm down, we aren't gonna hurt you."

Marco doesn't need to look over his shoulder to know that Whitebeard has just entered the room. In front of him, the copy suddenly freezes, widening eyes losing their burning anger and gaining shock. His skin is suddenly very, very pale, like he's seen a ghost, a stricken look crossing his face.

"Wha – h-how…" he chokes out. And then the anger is back, more intense, and the heat flares in the room. "What do you think you're playing at?!"

And suddenly, he's charging forward, a look of absolute rage on his features, raising a _flaming_ fist ready to attack. Izo forces the surprise away, managing to fire a shot that knocks the lookalike off balance and then Ace is there, pinning his twin to the ground. The copy struggles and thrashes, snarling like a wild animal.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ace yells, putting all of his effort into holding him down.

"Shut up!" he yells right back. And they're all taken aback by the amount of raw anger and pain and guilt in his voice. "He has no right! No right at all!"

Ace slips and his hand slides down his twin's chest, landing right over the center of his scar. Other-Ace makes a similar move, his hand landing right over Ace's heart. Suddenly, they both gasp and go very, very still, eyes wide as different images flash through their minds, too fast to really grasp any of them, but enough to understand.

Marco and Izo jerk forward, wrenching Ace off and away, Izo training his gun on the copy while Marco tries to shake Ace from his daze. When he finally snaps out of it, he just stares at his twin, wide eyed and silent.

Other-Ace just lies on the floor, ignoring Izo, staring blankly at the ceiling. Suddenly he laughs. It's slightly hysterical and a little bitter, but very amused. He pushes himself up to his feet, still chuckling as he walks back to the bed, falling on it with a heavy thump, sitting back against the wall. His body language is different now, calmer, as he casually and curiously examines the gash in his shoulder from where Izo's bullet grazed him.

"It's fine, Izo," Ace says, mentioning for his fellow commander to lower his weapon, "He won't hurt us."

"And how did you come to _that_ conclusion?" The cross-dressing male asks skeptically, keeping his weapon in place.

"He's me," Ace replies simply.

"He's…you," Marco says slowly.

"Yup," Other-Ace says, suddenly laid back and casual, but Marco can still see the guarded edges around his eyes. Just why is he so defensive? "We're one and the same. With a few different twists I'd imagine."

"And he's from where, exactly?" Izo asks, slowly lowering his weapon.

"Another dimension," they say in unison.

Silence.

"Excuse me?" Izo chokes out as Marco looks on with wide eyes. Whitebeard just watches the scene unfold before him with a mildly amused expression.

"Apparently, there are alternate realities," Other-Ace muses, "And somehow, I got tossed into one." He looks around at the people in the room, tries to hide the way his eye linger almost hungrily on Whitebeard but can't quite manage it. "From what I can see, you guys have it a bit better than we do," he says softly, "At least in some cases." He sighs, shaking his head and tearing his eyes away from Whitebeard, going back to examining the gash in his arm. "I really should have been more careful," he mutters, "Can't believe I actually got shot. Can you guys use Haki here?"

"Haki?" Whitebeard repeats.

"What's that?" Ace asks.

Other-Ace's brow furrow. "I'll take that as a no then. I wonder how you actually managed to hit me?"

"Are you implying something?" Izo fumes.

"Please," Other-Ace rolls his eyes, "If you're anything like my Izo, then you're one of the best marksmen out there. Izo would kick my ass for even hinting otherwise." Izo relaxes slightly as he continues. "Besides, that's not what I meant. I _meant_ that your bullet shouldn't have been able to hurt me."

"And why's that?" Marco asks.

"You guys have anything called Devil Fruits?"

"Devil _what_?"

"I'm going to go with no again," Other-Ace sighs, "Where I come from, there are these weird fruits that grant whoever eats them a unique power. I ate the Mera Mera no Mi."

"So, what?" Ace asks, tilting his head curiously, "You have fire powers?"

"Pretty much," he says, "I ate a Logia type, which means I've become the element. I don't just control fire, I _am_ fire." He holds up his arm to demonstrate, turning his hand into a bright orange flame. Everyone minus Whitebeard, who just looks interested, gapes soundlessly.

"What's the draw back?" Whitebeard asks, "You don't just get power like that without paying something."

"True," Other-Ace says, "Anyone who's eaten a Devil Fruit has lost the ability to swim."

"That's it?" Ace asks, surprised.

Other-Ace smirked. "Not really sure how things are here, but where I come from, most of the world is ocean. If you aren't a civilian, you're a marine or a pirate. The threat of drowning is almost constant, even if you can swim."

"Why would you become a sailor if you can't swim?" Izo asks bemused.

"Freedom," both Aces say simply.

"So…marine or pirate?" Marco asks.

Other-Ace snorts. "You think Oyaji would be a marine?"

Whitebeard throws his head back and laughs.

* * *

"When's he gonna wake up?" Luffy whines, flopping back in his chair.

"Well, if he's anything like you, he's dead to the world right now," Nami says as she enters the loft, "I called Chopper. He and Robin are on their way over."

"He doesn't look that bad off," Zoro comments, "On the outside at least. It's mostly just surface wounds."

"Still, let's leave that actual diagnosis to the doctor," Nami says.

The Other-Luffy is lying in the bed they keep in the loft, his injuries freshly bandaged be Zoro, sleeping the days away. He really does look exactly like Luffy, right down to the scar on his cheek. He even has his own straw hat, which is sitting on the pillow by his head. Luffy is practically hovering over him, waiting for him to wake up. It's cute. In an annoying kind of way.

"Luffy! He'll wake up when he wakes up!" Nami scolds.

"But Naaaaammmmmiiiii," Luffy whines.

Zoro rolls his eyes. "Just start talking about meat. He'll wake up soon enough."

As night follows day, as soon as the 'm'-word leaves Zoro's mouth, Other-Luffy stirs. Nami smacks her forehead and Zoro smothers snickers. Luffy is leaning over the bed, right in Other-Luffy's face. His eye flicker open and his brow furrows.

"Why's there another me?" he asks groggily.

"Dunno," Luffy says, "Are you Luffy too? Cause I am. Do you know Shanks? You have a hat just like mine and I got mine from Shanks. So do you know him? Are you in a gang? Do you -"

Nami smacks her hand over Luffy's mouth, stopping the stream of chatter. "He can't answer if you don't shut up, moron," she says and then removes her hand right as Luffy decides he's going to lick it, narrowly avoiding his tongue.

"Oh. Okay," Luffy says.

Other-Luffy is sitting up now, looking at the three of them with wide eyes. "Wow," he says, "Nami and Zoro are here too." He pauses, tilting his head to the side, a slight frown on his face. "But you're not my Nami or Zoro. Who are you?"

"We should be asking you that," Nami says crossing her arms.

Other-Luffy blinks. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy," he says simply, "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."

"King of the Pirates?" Luffy asks, eyes sparkling, "Cool!"

"Monkey?" Zoro raises an eyebrow. "You're name isn't Portgas?"

Other-Luffy looks confused. "Portgas? That's Ace's name, not mine."

"Ace is my brother," Luffy chirps.

"Half-brother," Nami corrects.

"Weird," Other-Luffy says, "I wonder if Robin's book was right?" he muses out loud to himself.

"Book?" Nami asks.

"Yeah. Robin was reading this book about different dimins-demash-damstio –"

"Dimensions?" Nami prompts.

"Yeah, those!" Other-Luffy exclaims, "It sounded really complicated and all I really remember is that everybody as another them in the other…dimension."

"You honestly expect us to believe that?" Nami asks, frowning.

Other-Luffy shurgs. "I just know that me n' Ace were fighting Blackbeard and then we got sucked into this big black thing and when I woke up I was here."

"Blackbeard?" Zoro asks, "Isn't he that guy that killed your brother's nakama?"

Luffy's face goes dark and Other-Luffy's eyes become cloudy. "Yes," they both say in unison.

An awkward silence descends upon the room. It's broken when Robin and Chopper enter the room. Other-Luffy looks up curiously at the visitors and they freeze upon seeing him.

"Oh my," Robin says. Chopper just stares.

Other-Luffy's brow furrows and he tilts his head, a look of concentration on his face. "Chopper? How come you're not a reindeer?"

* * *

Ace and his twin are sitting in one of the empty meeting rooms. They've been sharing and explaining to each other the finer details about the other's world. About pirate crews and mafia families, politics and weapons. Then they move onto more personal stuff. Other-Ace is not pleased to learn that Teach killed Thatch in this world as well, not pleased at all. He supposes he should be thankful that Oyaji stopped him from going after the traitor considering what happened when he tried it.

Ace watches his doubles reactions carefully. This Ace is more guarded than he is, though he noticed that he is most relaxed around him. Probably due to the fact that they are the same person.

"What about Luffy?" Other-Ace asks.

"He exists here," he confirms.

"Younger brother?" They had discovered somewhere along the line that not all relationships were the same and that some people were completely different, while others didn't exist at all.

"By three years," he says, nodding.

Other-Ace quirks an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I mean is he only a brother to you?"

Ace just stares, not understanding the question. Is Luffy supposed to be something else to him? Other-Ace sees his confusion and sighs.

"Have you ever thought about having sex with him?" he ask bluntly, face completely serious.

Ace feels himself flush. "Wha – NO! He's my brother!"

Other-Ace shrugs. "He's mine too. Through bond though not blood. And before you start freaking out, no I have not slept with him and no I do not think about sleeping with him.

"Then why would you ask that?!"

"To see how you'd react. And cause we're soulmates."

Ace stops at that. Sees the completely serious look on his twins face, the depth of his feeling visible through his identical eyes. It's overwhelming.

Other-Ace chuckles. "So just brothers?"

"I…yeah," he says, coming out of his daze. His twin gives him this small understanding smile and it's the most unguarded expression he's worn since he woke up. And Ace realizes it's because they're talking about Luffy. "We're half-brothers. We have the same mom."

His double perks up at that. "What about your dad?"

Ace scowls. "He was executed before I was born. I never knew him."

Other-Ace hums. "You too, huh? Gol D. Roger?"

"Yeah."

Silence falls between them. It's not uncomfortable, but it's not comfortable either.

"Is your mom still alive?" Other-Ace asks softly, almost as if he's afraid to voice the question.

Ace shakes his head. "She died about a year after Luffy was born."

"What was her name?"

"Portgas D. Rouge."

Other-Ace goes quiet for a minute, closes his eyes and takes a small, steadying breath. "Do you remember her at all?"

"A little," he admits softly, he shifts closer on the couch, so that he's shoulder to shoulder with his twin, "I remember long hair and a bright smile. Mostly, I just remember warmth. She was like a light that no one could put out."

He watches Other-Ace carefully as he speaks. He sees the sadness and pain in his features, the way his lips tremble slightly. When his eyes open, he looks down at his lap, his hands fisted in his shorts. Slowly, the tension drains away at his words.

"Thank you," he whispers. Ace waits patiently as his other lets out a deep breath, his head falling back against the couch before he starts speaking. "After Roger was executed in my world," he says, "the marines started a manhunt. A womanhunt really. They went around executing pregnant women, hoping to eliminate any child that Roger might have sired." Ace listens on in horror. How does anyone justify something like that? "Mom knew that they were looking in a specific time frame. Knew that if I had a natural birth, the marines would kill both of us."

"Natural birth?" Ace asks, brow furrowed.

Other-Ace stared blankly at the ceiling. "She held me in her womb for twenty months so the marines wouldn't fine me." Ace stares. And stares. Because that's…amazing will power. That act must have taken an incredible amount of strength. Ace can't even begin to imagine. "When she finally gave birth to me, her body was so drained…she died," his twin's voice is soft, solemn, his lips trembling slightly at the corners.

And Ace knows what he's thinking, can see it clear as day. Because it's exactly what he would think in that situation.

_It's my fault she died_.

"Mom used to say that she loved me more than anything in the world. Me and Luffy," he says, "Called us her treasures. She used to say that she would do anything to protect us because she was our mom and she loved us and it was her job. She used to say she didn't care what happened to her as long as we were safe."

Other-Ace's lips quirk into a sad kind of half-smile; it's not much but it's an improvement, so Ace nudges his double's shoulder and his half-grin becomes a real grin.

"Thanks," he says.

"Anytime."

* * *

"So you can stretch?" Chopper asks, tiny fingers pulling at Other-Luffy's cheek.

"Yeah," he says when Chopper lets go and his cheek snaps back into place, "I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi."

"Which is?" Robin asks calmly, not at all phased by his inhuman stretching abilities. Some things never changed it seemed, regardless on dimension.

"It's a Devil Fruit," Other-Luffy says, "They give you really cool powers, but if you eat one, you can't swim anymore."

Robin raises an eye brow at that. "Interesting."

"Shishishishishi! Yeah! My Robin ate one that lets her grow extra body parts, and she can clone herself now! And my Chopper is a reindeer who ate one that made him more human."

"Coooooooool!" Luffy exclaims from his perch on the bed next to his twin.

Little Chopper, who is still an amazing doctor in this dimension, has looked over Other-Luffy and declared him healthy, nothing more than some cuts and bruises with a little exhaustion thrown in.

"We still haven't decided what we're doing," Nami says, arms crossed over her chest.

Luffy cocks his head to the side. "We have to do something?"

Nami sighs. "He can't stay here, Luffy."

"Eh? Why not?"

Nami groans while Zoro and Robin look on, not bothering to hide their amusement.

"Well, I need to find Ace," Other-Luffy says.

"How do we do that?" Chopper asks.

"It wouldn't be a good idea to go around advertising the fact that you're here," Robin says calmly to Other-Luffy, "Especially in the Underworld. On the other hand if your Ace is running around on the loose, it could cause problems for this world's Ace."

"So we tell people they're cousins or something," Zoro says, shrugging.

"They look exactly the same, Zoro," Nami deadpans.

Zoro rolls his eyes. "Long lost twin brother."

"There are some many reasons why that wouldn't work, that I'm not even going to bother to list them," Nami says.

Other-Luffy looks confused. "Why can't I just look for him?"

"Because you look like Luffy," she says.

Other-Luffy's brow furrows. "I am Luffy. Who else am I supposed to look like?"

Zoro snorts and Nami face palms.

"I'll go with him," Luffy volunteers, "We can start in the warehouse district."

"Okay," Other-Luffy says, making to get out of bed.

"No, no, no!" Chopper exclaims, immediately going into doctor mode, "You need to rest more! Your body has been through a lot and it needs to recover."

"Perhaps wait a few days and then start a search?" Robin suggests, "In the meantime, we can keep a look out and it gives us more time to think of a batter plan."

"Thank you," Nami says, "Finally some sense!"

Both Luffy's tilt their heads to the side in the exact same way. "I guess we could do that," they say in unison, "But I hate waiting."

"I'm sure we can find something to pass the time," Robin says calmly.

"So go to sleep! Doctor's orders!" Chopper exclaims, pushing Other-Luffy back down in bed.

"Alright, alright," he grumbles.

He's out ten seconds after his head hits the pillow.

* * *

It's been a few days and no one has managed to come up with any sort of decent plan. So, Luffy, being Luffy no matter what dimension he's from, sneaks his twin out of their hideout and the pair set out toward the warehouse district. Nami will probably kill them, but they can cross that bridge when they get to it.

There isn't really much to find even though it's the middle of the afternoon; the district is pretty much empty. Still the boys search every nook and cranny for some kind of clue. It doesn't seem like they'll find anything of interest here, but right when Luffy goes to suggest another place to look, he feels his counterpart tense next to him. His face is suddenly serious and Luffy automatically knows that something bad is about to happen.

When Other-Luffy suddenly garbs him around the waist and jumps, he doesn't question it, he goes with the movement. The line of crates in front of them are suddenly nothing but shattered rubble and a creeping laugh is bouncing off the concrete walls.

"Zehahahahaha! Well lookie what I found!"

Both Luffys growl in the back of their throats. They know that voice. They know it and hate it more than anything they've ever hated in their lives. Because the owner of that voice hurt Ace. And _nobody_ is allowed to hurt Ace.

Marshall D. Teach steps out of the shadows wearing his maddening grin and Luffy knows right away that this is not his world's Blackbeard. He feels different; like darkness personified.

"Sorry about the little interruption to our fight," the fat man says easily, "Didn't realize that when black holes combined with you and your brother's fancy mumbo-jumbo we'd end up here."

Other-Luffy frowns. He's in a fighting stance that is identical to the one Luffy is in. They both regard the man in front of them cautiously. "What do you want?" Other-Luffy asks.

Blackbeard smirks. "Well my fight ain't with you, not really," he says, "But ya would make excellent bait."

"Like hell!" they both yell.

"Zehahahaha! Thing is I wasn't askin'."

And then they both realize that they can't move their feet. They look down and see nothing but blackness pooling beneath them. The last thing they hear is Blackbeard's chilling laugh before everything goes dark.

* * *

Other-Ace feels anxious. Ace can tell.

Not necessarily because of anything bad, but he knows his twin's Luffy is out there somewhere and he isn't allowed to go find him. And that is gnawing at his insides more than anything. Ace has stayed with his counterpart for the last few days. He isn't particularly surprised that he gets along with everyone; he is Ace after all. But there are subtle differences. Other-Ace can't be anywhere near Whitebeard without this guilty look in his eye. When someone asks something of him, he automatically looks to Marco, almost like seeking permission. Everyone notices it, but no one says anything.

Whitebeard sits down beside Other-Ace before the pirate even registers that he's moved across the room. It's only Whitebeard and the commanders in the warehouse today, some meeting about some gang activity in South Blue District. But they were taking a break now and Whitebeard decided to find out why his alternate dimension son keeps giving him guilty looks.

Other-Ace startles and looks up at him, eyes wide in surprise before they flinch away from him. And there's the guilt.

"Something's bothering you, son," Whitebeard says, because this Ace is still his son and will always be his son, regardless of where he's from.

Other-Ace flinches at the address. "Please don't," he whispers.

"Ace," he says sternly, "You should know better than to bury these things."

The pirate pulls his knees up to his chest and takes a shuddering breath. Whitebeard waits patiently; he knows that his son _wants_ to talk, even if he doesn't know _how_. Sure enough, after a long, tense silence, Other-Ace speaks.

"Would you," he starts, voice hoarse and a little broken, "Would you ever hate me?"

It is by far the most absurd question Whitebeard has ever heard. But he can see the tension in his son's shoulders and the fine tremble of his lips and knows that this Ace thinks he is fully capable of such a feat. He frowns; something had happened, he knows that much. From the stories he had heard Other-Ace tell, his pirate crew acted much the same way his familia did.

"I would never hate you, Ace," he says softly, seriously, "You are my son. And I am sure that the me from your world feels the same."

Other-Ace bites his lips and tears his eyes away from Whitebeard's face. "Even if it was my fault you died?" he whispers and his voice cracks.

Ah. So that was what happened. The guilty looks make a lot more sense now.

"Were you the one who dealt the lethal blow?" Whitebeard asks, raising an eyebrow. Other-Ace shakes his head mutely. "Then it is not your fault my counterpart died."

The pirate is looking at him again, eyes clouded with tears. "But it was my stupid mistake. It was my fault that –"

"Ace," Whitebeard interrupts gently, but firmly, "If I died for you, it was my decision." Other-Ace flinches and he knows he's hit the nail on the head. "You are my son and I will give my life to protect you. To protect any of my children. And that is _my_ decision. If my counterpart in your world was anything like me, I know he thinks the same." Whitebeard pauses for a moment. "He would also be extremely displeased that you are wallowing in guilt over something that was obviously not your fault instead of living your life."

Other-Ace gives a watery chuckle. "How is it you always know what to say?" he asks and Whitebeard chuckles.

"Years of practice, brat!"

Other-Ace laughs a real laugh this time, loud and carefree and it causes heads to turn and smiles to grow on faces. Even if he isn't from this world, this Ace is still their brother. And they want him to be happy.

The moment is broken, however, when the door to the warehouse is flung open. Other-Ace is up and between all of them and the door in an instant, crouched in a fighting stance. The commanders have all taken similar positions.

"Zehahahaha! I didn't think it would be this easy ta find ya, Commander Ace!"

And suddenly it's like all of the air has been sucked from the room. Blackbeard – thatevilbackstabbingmurderin g_traitor_ – is standing in the doorway grinning like he owns the place. They can tell right away that this is not the Teach from their world. It's not just the clothes that are different, just something about him doesn't seem to belong. Other-Ace straightens, tucking his thumbs through his belt loops as he regards the man before him coolly, face completely blank.

"I believe I told you that you no longer have the right to call me that," he says, voice cold.

"Don't be so cold, Ace," Teach says, grinning, "I only wanted ta pay ya a visit. Didn't know we'd end up here. The World Government's been talkin' see?"

Other-Ace narrows his eyes. "Have they? I wasn't aware you followed politics."

The commanders and Whitebeard sit back and listen. As much as they want to beat the shit out of this man, this isn't their fight.

"They've got a list of people they think can take me down," Teach shrugs carelessly, grin wide and dangerous, "Turns out that one of the people on the top of that list is Commander – oh sorry, _Captain_ Marco."

The room seems to freeze at that and all of commanders are staring wide eyed at Other-Ace's back. If Marco is captain in his world, that can mean only one thing. Whitebeard is dead. And suddenly, all of those little differences make sense.

Other-Ace's eyes briefly flash crimson, the only sign of his anger. "Well, we can't have that can we?" he says calmly, "Marco shouldn't have to dirty his hands with the likes of _you_."

Blackbeard raises an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought ya might say that. But I was _so_ hopin' ya'd reconsider," the fat man taunts, "I ran into someone interestin' on my way here," he goes on and Other-Ace stiffens, his lips pulling into a frown.

And then suddenly, darkness is pooling on the floor around him and two forms are dragged up from the depths.

"Luffy," Ace whispers, eyes wide in horror.

And it is. Both Luffys are coiled in darkness, struggling furiously in an attempt to get free, but having no success. Other-Ace goes very still and the room is suddenly very warm.

"Let. Them. Go," he says, voice cold and hard and unyielding.

"I don't know," Teach sighs, "See, after that stunt he pulled at Marineford two years ago, your brother is on that list too."

Other-Ace is tense, his eyes glowing crimson. No one in the room even breathes. One wrong move and the struggling pair is dead. Teach has the advantage right now. And he knows it.

"Oi, jackass!" Other-Luffy yells, breaking the heavy silence and making a few people jump, "Fight your own damn battles! Quite hiding behind people, you bastard!"

"Luffy!" Other-Ace hisses.

But, as usual, his brother isn't listening. He glares defiantly at Teach, eyes fierce and furious. But Teach just frowns looking thoughtful.

"I wonder how breakable your body is when ya ain't rubber," he says as one of his fists is surrounded by a white glow. Other-Luffy just continues to glare defiantly, but Other-Ace's eyes have gone impossibly wide, his face suddenly very, very pale. Before anyone can react, Teach rams his fist into the young pirate's stomach. The very air seems to crack and the ground is shaking; Other-Luffy's body jerks forward, a strangled gasp escaping his lips fallowed by a stream of blood and a wet cough. Teach smirks, but when he pulls away, he sees Other-Luffy's torso is covered in some kind of black armor.

"Haki, huh?" he says, "Well that' s bit disappointin'. I wonder how your twin over here would fair?"

"No!" Ace yells, and before his can think, he's drawn his gun and fired a round into the man's shoulder.

Teach jerks back in surprise and pain and by the time he recovers, Other-Ace is already there, eyes glowing a violent, bloody crimson and body, quite literally, on fire. His flames burn away the shadows on the floor and he gives an inhuman growl as he rams his flaming fist into the man's stomach. Teach stumbles back and Other-Ace wraps an arm around each Luffy before jumping back, dragging the younger two with them.

He drops them on the floor by the commanders, his entire body shaking with fury. Luffy rushes to his twin who is trying to recover his breath, while Ace rushes to him, wrapping his arms around his brother. Marco comes over as well and puts a hand on Other-Luffy's chest to start checking for injuries.

"I'm fine," the younger pirate says, groaning before muttering, "Damnit, my haki isn't strong enough yet."

Other-Ace has turned away from them, facing Teach, eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat. "How dare you," he whispers, and then in a much louder voice, "How _dare_ you use Oyaji's power on my _brother_!"

He is shaking with anger as his head jerks up to glare at Teach. His eyes are red and black is licking at the corners. Other-Luffy sees this and scrambles up, shoving away restraining hands and running to his brother's side, slipping his hand into the Demon's.

"Ace," he says calmly and firmly, "You need to calm down. You can't lose control right now. They need us." Other-Luffy glances at his twin and the commanders standing around him. "They don't know how to fight a battle like this, remember? We have to protect them. We won't let anyone die again."

The tension drains out of Other-Ace's body and he slides his fingers in between his Angel's giving his hand a tight squeeze. He takes a deep breath and when he opens his eyes, they are dark brown again.

"I'm good," he says softly.

"How touchin'," Teach says with a grin, "But ya sure ya can win? Didn't work out so well for ya last time."

Other-Luffy answers before his brother can. And his answer has those behind him wondering just what the _hell_ these two have been through.

"Are you stupid?" the Angel asks, "Last time, I didn't have time to fight you. Last time, Ace was about to be executed. Last time, Jimbie and Crocodile were there to stop me." He is getting angrier with every word as he remembers the stress of breaking into Impel Down only to find his brother already gone. "You're the one who put Ace in Impel Down. You're the reason he was almost taken from me. Ace is mine!" he yells, glaring, eyes flashing silver, "And this time," he says cracking his knuckles, "no one is here to stop me from kicking your ass."

Silence reigns for a long moment. The commanders are staring in shock at Other-Luffy while Teach is just smirking condescendingly. Other-Ace steps forward, cool mask back in place.

"Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard," he says formally, "You are guilty of the murder of Forth Division Commander Thatch, handing over your former commander to the World Government for execution, and having a hand in the death of your former captain, Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard, because you are a coward and too afraid to face him head on. Your sentence is death." Other-Ace's voice is cold and unyielding as he holds up his fist and lets it burst into flames. "And I am your executioner."

Other-Luffy calmly throws out an arm and his skin stretches and bunches before bouncing back and his skin is suddenly giving off a dim glow and his body is steaming. Before anyone can blink, he's darted forward, arms stretching out behind him and pauses right before Teach.

"Gomu Gomu no," he says, "Jet Bazooka!"

And then his arms snap forward, open palms slamming into Teach and sending him flying out of the warehouse. The Angel wastes no time in running after him. Other-Ace glances back at them briefly before sighing and tuning away.

"I'm not going to tell you to leave because I know you won't listen," he says, and as he speaks, small green lights that look like fireflies escape his open palm, "But I'm warning you now that this is probably going to be messy. When we fought before, we ended up destroying an entire town. These lights will stay with you and if Teach gets to close, they'll explode. You're weapons seem to have the same effect as Haki, so feel free to shoot him in the face if he tries to attack you."

And then he's off, chasing after his brother with a careless wave over his shoulder.

* * *

"What…just happened?" Marco asks slowly after Other-Ace is gone.

It's silent for a while as everyone tries to digest what they've just seen. Ace and Luffy are sitting on the floor still, the older with his arm wrapped around the younger.

"They're hurt," Luffy says softly, making everyone turn to him, "They almost lost each other."

"I think they did," Ace says, a hand making its way to his chest, resting just above his heart, "For a while at least."

"It at least explains some things," Vista says solemnly with a glance at Whitebeard. The other commanders nod.

"You don't seem that surprised, Oyaji," Haruta says curiously.

Whitebeard hums. "It seems that my counterpart traded his life for Ace's," he says.

Ace stiffens, eyes going wide and his heart clenching. "He blames himself."

Whitebeard nods. "He does. Or did, rather. He's trying to sort it out."

A loud explosion interrupts their conversation and has them running to the door to see what happened. Ace and Luffy's counterparts are standing opposite Teach, all three of them showing signs of battle.

Other-Luffy's eyes flash dangerously. "Shut up!" he yells, "I hate people like you! You killed your nakama! Nakama are family! Nakama are forever! You don't deserve them!"

"Zehahaha! That's a pretty speech, Straw Hat. But it shows how weak you are! Power requires sacrifice. To achieve your dreams you need to be willing to give up anything," Teach grins, eyes full of greed, "I'm not afraid of any of that."

Other-Ace scoffs. "Not afraid? Bullshit. You fear death. You fear pain," he says, "Oyaji would have easily killed you back at Marineford even though he was already half dead by the time you confronted him. But what do you do? You cry out in fear and have the rest of your crew attack him all at once because you can't! And even then he died standing! You didn't have the strength to knock him down!"

"A pirate looks Death in the face," Other-Luffy says solemnly, eyes cold, "To fly a pirate flag is to bet your life. If you aren't prepared to risk your life, you won't gain anything."

Teach is frowning at the brothers now. They are looking down at him. Furious, he lashes out, tendrils of black flying towards the pair before him. They easily dodge and Other-Ace smirks.

"What's the matter, Teach?" he taunts, "I thought it was your age now? But you can't even get rid of your former superior and a rookie?"

Teach growls and suddenly, everything is being sucked towards him. Other-Ace loses his footing and is pulled in and Teach takes the opening, burying a glowing white fist in the Fire Fist's stomach. He coughs blood but as soon as he's down Other-Luffy is there, slamming his fist into Teach's face, making him stumble back.

The Angel lands between his brother and Blackbeard. Other-Ace pulls himself up and spits out some blood.

"Well that stung a little," he says nonchalantly, a slight grin tugging at his lips, "Hey, Lu, I think I made him angry."

"Don't care," Other-Luffy says, "I'm still gonna kick his ass."

Other-Ace laughs.

"Are they even taking this seriously?" Izo asks.

"Yes," Ace and Luffy say in unison, eyes locked on their counterparts.

"They're keeping each other in check," Marco says aloud in realization.

Teach charges forward and Other-Ace jumps up, using his brother as a spring board and launches a fireball at the traitor. And suddenly, it's fire and darkness and fists and kicks and flashes and the commanders are forced to retreat further back into the warehouse to avoid the crossfire. It goes on for what seems like hours. Eventually though, something slams through the warehouse wall and the green lights Other-Ace left behind rush to their defense, going from harmless lights to a raging inferno in seconds. When the fire clears, Blackbeard's charred and unconscious from is revealed.

"Sorry about the hole," Other-Ace says as he steps through said hole, not looking apologetic at all. He looks satisfied. He's bruised and battered and bloody, but strangely relaxed. He pauses to kick Teach's body and the man makes a soft grunt. "Still alive, huh?" He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"Woohoo!" Other-Luffy yells as he jumps his brother from behind. The Demon easily side steps and the Angel face plants. Other-Luffy doesn't look much better than his brother, covered in dirt and bruises from head to toe.

"Not the time, Lu," Other-Ace says, "I got stuff to do. Go talk to your twin."

"Awwwww!" he whines. But he gets up anyway, wearing a large grin that makes it hard to believe this boy could ever be anything but happy, and bounces over to his twin. The two immediately start babbling over the battle.

Other-Ace shakes his head fondly and turns to Whitebeard and the commanders. "Since you guys probably don't have any sea stone, you got any drugs that will keep him unconscious till we figure out what to do?"

Ace nods. "Yeah. We have enough to keep him out for maybe two weeks."

"Can we do that? And not treat his wounds? Bastard doesn't deserve it."

Marco snorts. "It shouldn't be too much a problem."

Other-Ace nods before turning and walking over to his brother. He throws and arm over the Angel's shoulders, fingers tangling in dark hair as he pulls his brother's face up and kisses him square on the mouth mid-word. Other-Luffy makes a sound of surprise, but otherwise doesn't protest. Ace's face goes red and Luffy's eyes go wide, light pink dusting his cheeks, while the others just stare.

"I love you, Lu, really I do," Other-Ace says as he breaks away, "But please shut up. I'm too tired to listen to you talk."

Other-Luffy giggles and wraps an arm around his Demon's waist and tugs the arm around his shoulder into place so that his brother can lean on him. "Do you feel better?" he asks, completely ignoring their audience (it seems to be a specialty of theirs).

Other-Ace hums as he buries his face in the Angel's dark hair. "I'm getting there," he says. And then he goes limp, leaning fully onto his brother.

Other-Luffy turns his face up slightly so he can nuzzle his Demon's cheek, before he grins at his twin. "We're going to go to sleep now," he says.

Luffy grins right back at him. "Okay," he replies.

And with that the pair fall backwards. Other-Luffy is snoring away instantly while Other-Ace grunts. "Damnit, Lu," he mumbles before rolling over onto his little brother and tucking his face into the Angel's thin neck and then, with a content sigh, he's asleep too.

It's quiet for a long moment before Whitebeard bursts out in laughter. Marco sighs and shakes his head before going to get the drugs to keep Teach under.

"They just do whatever the hell they want don't they?" Izo says.

Ace and Luffy nod. "Yep," the say in unison.

"And you would know wouldn't you?" Izo asks.

The brothers give the cross-dressing male identical cheeky smirks.

Jozu steps between them before it can escalate and scoops up the sleeping pair; they don't so much as twitch. "Oyaji?"

"Put 'em in the back," he says, "Let's see if we can sort out their mess."

* * *

Hours later, Other-Ace stumbles out of the back room, wounds cleaned up and freshly bandaged, and makes his way over to the group sitting in the center of the warehouse. Some of the commanders are out clearing rubble, while Whitebeard and the rest discuss how to handle their inter-dimensional guests. Luffy is still there, perching on a chair next to Ace.

Other-Ace ignores all of this and makes a beeline straight for Whitebeard, climbing into the giant man's lap when he gets there. The commanders watch him with slight amusement and Whitebeard chuckles.

"What are you doing?" Ace inquires with a raised eyebrow.

"Just shut up," Other-Ace says, voice still laced with exhaustion, as he lays sprawled across Whitebeard's thighs, pulling his hat over his eyes, "I haven't been able to do this in years."

Everyone goes quiet at that, the atmosphere growing heavy.

"Oh, knock it off!" Other-Ace snaps, "I don't need pity! Oyaji raised us to be fully capable of taking care of ourselves but that doesn't mean we can't miss him."

"Atta-boy," Whitebeard says softly, lightly patting the pirate's stomach.

Other-Ace instantly relaxes, a small smile on his lips. The conversation resumes, Other-Ace adding his input from time to time. This goes on for a time until the air across the room suddenly splits open. A young woman with long orange hair steps through; she's wearing a bikini top and a pair of jeans and is carrying a metal blue staff. A young man steps out behind her; he has green hair and a scar over one eye, three swords strapped to his hip. Both of them look like they came out of a fight; they're bruised and a little bloody, the man more so than the woman. Other-Ace looks over at the noise and instantly jumps up when he sees the visitors, while Luffy, Whitebeard and the commanders watch curiously.

"Zoro! Nami!" he calls, walking over to them, "What the hell happened to you? How'd you get here?"

"Got in a fight and Robin," Zoro answers shortly, crossing his arms.

Nami rolls her eyes. "Right around the time we realized you and Luffy were missing, Blackbeard's crew attacked us," she says, "After that, Robin figured out what happened to you and how to get you back. Turns out it was the something about the island; there was a Poneglyph on the island that explained everything."

As Other-Ace digests that, Luffy wonders over and starts to look over Zoro and Nami.

"So are you guys Luffy's Zoro and Nami?" he asks, poking Zoro's shoulder, "Cause you don't look like my Zoro or Nami."

"Oh great, there's two of them," Nami deadpans while Zoro just smirks.

"Oi, Nami, you got any sea stone? We need something for him," the Demon says, jerking thumb at Teach's restrained and unconscious from. When the two Straw Hats see him, they both grin darkly.

"I'll see what I can do," she says before walking back into the hole in the air.

Other-Ace turns back to Zoro. "So I take it you guys won?"

Zoro grins and it's feral and dangerous; had the commanders been lesser people, they would have shuddered. "Best fight I've had in ages," he says, "Never thought I'd ever see your captain so angry, though. Kicked the shit out of 'em."

Other-Ace smirks. "Oh, he has a temper," he says, "He's usually better at hiding it though."

"I blame you entirely," a voice says from behind them.

They turn and Other-Ace practically lights up. "Marco!" he exclaims, a wide grin lighting his features.

"Remind me why I made you my second?" the Phoenix drawls.

Other-Ace leans against him. "Because I'm awesome and you love me," he says coyly.

The Phoenix snorts and before anyone can blink, has the younger pirate in a headlock. "Lucky for you," he says dryly. Other-Ace struggles, even going so far as to turn to fire, only for blue flames to lick across Other-Marco's arms. He tsks. "You should know by now that won't work, Ace."

"Damn Phoenix," Other-Ace mutters.

Other-Marco just smirks before he turns to Zoro. "Your navigator just came through. Said something about sea stone."

Zoro nods. "It's for ugly over there," he says, pointing at Teach.

The Phoenix turns and when his gaze falls on the traitor, his face goes blank, eyes cold.

"Marco! That's my neck," Other-Ace forces out when the arm around his throat tightens. His captain immediately lets go. Other-Ace just grins at him and squeezes his shoulder. Other-Marco forces his eyes away from Teach to look at his first mate. "I got you a present," the Demon says, smirking, "Luffy helped."

Finally, the Phoenix sighs and shakes his head. It's only because they know their own Marco so well that the commanders can see the lines of stress and the burden this Marco carries. His eyes wander over the group in the warehouse, lingering on Whitebeard. He's better at hiding his shock than his crewmate was, but it's still visible.

"I would apologize for all of the trouble he's caused," he says at last, eyes falling on Ace, "But seeing as you have one of your own…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" both Aces' cry out in unison, earning chuckles.

"Speaking of trouble," Zoro says looking at Luffy.

Other-Ace grins. "I got it," he says, "Oi, Lu!" he shouts, "If you don't wake up soon, we're going to eat without you!"

There's silence for a moment before a crash comes from the back room. Zoro just gives a resigned sigh, but there's a smile tugging at his lips, and most everyone else is smothering snickers.

"Ace! You meanie!" Other-Luffy whines as he makes his way into the room. He's covered in fresh bandages just like his brother, his straw hat perched on his head. "Why would you –" he cuts off when he sees the people in the room and a grin lights his face.

"ZORO!" he yells, wrapping arms and legs around his first mate.

Zoro, for his part, just grunts and stumbles back a step. "Captain," he says with a grin.

Other-Luffy beams at him. "Hi! I missed you! But this place it cool. There's another you here. Nami too. And Robin and Sanji and Franky and Chopper and Brook. Except Copper isn't a reindeer and Brook's not a skeleton because they don't have Devil Fruits here, which is weird, but they have a bunch of other cool stuff." The young pirate finally stops to take a breath. "You smell like a fight. Whose ass did you kick?"

And Zoro smirks at his captain's complete and absolute faith before saying, "Blackbeard's crew."

Other-Luffy blinks then grins as he untangles his limbs from his swordsman. "Good."

Zoro gives his captain a once over. "You got into trouble didn't you?"

Other-Ace snorts before slinging an arm over the Angel's shoulders. "When isn't he trouble?"

Other-Luffy pouts. "I'm not trouble," he whines.

"Kid," Other-Marco says, "You have single-handedly given the government the most trouble it's had since Gold Roger."

The Angel just cocks his head to the side, looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

Zoro sighed. "Luffy we raided the government's judicial island after Robin got kidnapped by those CP9 guys. Declared war on the world, remember? Enies Lobby is still being rebuilt."

"And you broke _into_ Impel Down, the world's most secure prison," Other-Ace adds, "And then _broke out_ with several hundred prisoners."

"And then charged head first into a war at Marine Headquarters," Other-Marco finishes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Other-Luffy blinks, still looking very confused. "I was just getting back what was mine," he says, "The government tried to take Robin and Ace away from me."

The three older men just shake their heads fondly giving resigned sighs. The others in the room are all staring at the young pirate captain with wide eyes and various degrees of amusement and horror. They have similar structures here in their world. And they are three of the most secure places on the planet.

Ace glares at his brother, who is grinning widely at his twin. "Don't even think about it," he hisses.

Luffy just beams at him innocently.

"You forgot the part where he makes an enemy of a Yonko before we even set foot in the New World," Nami says as she walks through the tear.

"Nami!" Other-Luffy beams before he registers her words and his lips pull into a pout. "She was gonna destroy Fishman Island because that didn't have any candy," he says.

"That's not nice," Luffy says.

"See!" Other-Luffy points at his twin.

Nami waves it off. "He's you; his vote doesn't count," she dismisses.

"You're absolutely crazy, aren't you?" Izo says, staring at Other-Luffy.

"You have no idea," deadpans the entire other-world group and Ace, who knows exactly how crazy Luffy is because he has a Luffy of his own. And that one is enough, thank you very much. Because Luffy is Luffy, no matter which dimension you're in.

Whitebeard just throws his head back and laughs.

Other-Ace turns to Nami. "Did you get the sea stone?"

She grins and holds up a pair of shackles and chains. "Yep!" She says before shoving them at Zoro, "Go put these on him."

"Why me?" he growls.

Nami rolls her eyes. "Because these things are freaking heavy, and those three," she says jabbing her thumb in the direction of the male pirates, "are all Devil Fruit users."

Zoro sighs, taking the chains. "Fine," he grounds out, walking over to Blackbeard.

"Robin says we gotta go soon," Nami says, turning to her captain, "This tear is only gonna stay open for a few more minutes."

"Awwwww," both Luffy's whine in unison.

Other-Ace rolls his eyes. "Can't be pirate king if you stay here, Lu."

Other-Luffy looks up at him with a pout before turning to his twin. The pair give each other blank, assessing looks before breaking out into identical, madly determined grins and high-fiving.

"You'll do it," they say in unison, eyes burning with an unshakable determination.

Ace knocks the back of his fist against his counterparts. "Keep him out of trouble, yeah?"

His twin laughs. "It's a full time job!"

They smile and Other-Ace turns to look up at Whitebeard. "Well, Oyaji, time to go," he says.

The giant man nods. "You must return to your own family," he agrees, "Listen to your captain, brat. He's got a pretty good idea what he's doing. You two will do your old man proud."

Other-Marco gives him a small smile and Other-Ace beams, giving the man a mock salute. "Aye, aye!" he says.

Other-Marco rolls his eyes and grabs the Demon by the back of the neck. "Come on, kid. We've got territory to reclaim."

The younger pirate grins and throws his arms in the air with a loud whoop and his captain smiles fondly as the two walk through the tear with a wave and one last backwards glance. Zoro drags the now chained Blackbeard over and effortlessly tosses him through the tear.

"Time to go," he announces.

Nami walks through, Zoro ready to follow when he notices that his captain has stopped.

The Angel is looking at them seriously, his eyes glowing silver. "Keep an eye on your Blackbeard, 'kay? You guys don't have to goes through the same hurt we did."

"Maybe not, brat," Whitebeard says, "But we all make our own choices and we are stronger for them in the end."

Other-Luffy grins up at the giant man. "I can see why Ace loves you," he says, "Shame I'll never get to fight you in my world."

Whitebeard laughs. "Gurarararararara! Come back sometime and we'll go a round."

"Shishishishishi! Okay!"

And with one last grin, the Angel walks through the tear. Zoro nods towards them before following his captain. The tear closes after him, the air mending itself as if it was never broken. It's silent for a moment before Luffy looks up at his brother.

"Next time, can we go visit them?"

* * *

**And that's the end! Almost 10,000 words this chapter was, 25 pages in Word.**

**So watcha guys think? Good? Bad? Reviews make me feel warm and fluffy on the inside. ^^  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	7. Born

_****_**Hi everyone!  
**

**Sorry for the late update, all of my professors decided at the same time that it would be awesome to give out projects. AT THE SAME TIME. Note: This is not awesome.  
**

**Anyway.  
**

**I know it's not anywhere near Ace's birthday quite yet, but this is the shot that got finished first, so I'm posting it. And if you have a problem with that, then TOO BAD. But yeah, this Ace's first birthday after Sabo died, so little people fic! You can decide their ages, since I'm not quite sure how old they are when Sabo actually dies. So you pick. I don't really care.  
**

**Characters: Ace, Luffy, mentions of others  
Warnings: angst, people being assholes, Luffy being sweet loveable Luffy, fluff  
**

**Disclaimer: ...Is Ace alive? No? Then I don't own it.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Born~**_

_One curses Fate for the crime of his birth. The other thanks the stars and teaches his brother how to live._

* * *

Luffy can't contain his excited giggles as he practically bounces down the street. He and Ace had split up when they got to town today. The Demon had been a little more closed off than usual lately, but the Angel didn't really pay it any mind. He was busy with his own things. Not that he's going to tell Ace that; it's a surprise, one he's been waiting _ages_ to reveal and today is finally the day.

The only thing that can possibly dampen his spirit is that fact that Sabo isn't here with them to share in the surprise. But the grief doesn't last as long as it did a few months ago; Luffy knows that Sabo can still share in his excitement even if his older brother can't physically be there with him. The Angel can almost feel the blond's gap-tooth grin.

He skips through the snow-dusted streets, humming the pirate song that Shanks and his crew would sing whenever they stopped at Makino's bar, a small pack bouncing along on his back. He found it exactly where it had been left all those months ago, waiting just for today. Now he just needs to find Ace.

He's walking through the back allies when he hears it.

"If Gold Roger had a son? He'd be a devil for sure."

"Ha! He should beg forgiveness for even existing! Any kid of that monster doesn't have the right to live."

"Death would be the only thing suited for him, but a quick death would be too merciful. Think about it; all those people that hate Roger should get a whack at his kid. That would be justice."

Luffy stands, frozen in place. He can hear the sneers in these men's voices, their disgust and hate at the idea of Gold Roger having a child very real. They truly believe that he should be killed for simply being born. The little Angel doesn't understand. Gold Roger is Ace's father. They're saying that Ace deserves to die for the crime of existing. But Ace is…Ace. He's Luffy's big brother. He's the Angel's other half. He's brilliant and special and _perfect_ and little Luffy just can't understand why these men think Ace should die. Ace is a gift. He saved him from the dark, icy loneliness.

Why can't they see Ace's light?

Why can't they see how important he is?

The sound of fighting snaps him from his thoughts and he runs around the corner to see Ace surrounded by the beaten and unconscious bodies of the men that Luffy has no doubt made those comments. Ace stands over them, panting, fists tightly clenched. His face is pinched in an expression Luffy has never seen on his brother before. The Demon is glaring, lips pulled down in a deep frown, eyes sparking with rage and hate the likes of which the Angel has never seen before. The thing that scares Luffy the most though, is that he can tell that not all of that darkness is directed at those awful men lying at his brother's feet. It's directed at Ace too.

And Luffy is suddenly gripped with the fear that Ace believes what those men said. That he didn't deserve to live; that everyone wants him to die. But Ace promised. Ace said he would live. He wouldn't listen to those men would he? Who cares if his dad is Gold Roger? Luffy thinks he's perfect; Ace is Ace and that's all that matters.

The Angel decides that the dark expression on Ace's face just doesn't look right; it doesn't belong there.

So he grins his normal, bright, sunny grin and runs up to his brother. "Ace!"

The Demon jerks up, eyes going wide, surprise washing away anger as Luffy latches onto his wrist. "Luffy!"

Ace looks a little worried about his little brother's appearance, but Luffy either completely ignores or is completely oblivious to his unease.

"Come on!" he exclaims, tugging on Ace's wrist, not sparing the slightest attention to the beaten men on the ground, smiling like everything is absolutely perfect.

"Luffy, what –"

"Come on!" the Angel says again, a little more insistently.

And Ace lets his brother drag him through the city, through the forest, all the way back to Dadan's place because it's too cold to stay in their tree fort at this time of year. Ace doesn't really understand what Luffy his doing; the younger boy is practically bouncing in place, his eyes alight, everything about him radiating excitement.

Dadan scowls down at them, at usual, but it's almost like she's fighting a smile. She pulls out a box and hands it to Luffy, who takes it gleefully. "Makino dropped that off when she brought some sake over," the female bandit says, "She couldn't stay though; somethin' came up."

Luffy just grins. "Shishishishi! Thanks, Dadan!"

And then Luffy drags Ace to their room and Ace can do nothing but follow, confusion growing. When they reach it, Luffy carefully puts the box down and starts rummaging in the small backpack he's carrying.

"Luffy, what's going on?" Ace asks, patience finally running out. He looks at the ox and wonders what could be inside to make the Angel so excited. He's torn from his thoughts when something is shoved over his head. He's about to violently tear it off and shove the person away, when he suddenly remembers that the person is Luffy. He's still keyed up from earlier.

He reaches up to grip the thing on his head, it's warm and comfortable, even if it's a bit too big for him. Slowly, he takes it off. It's an orange cowboy hat with a string of red beads around the brim and two smilies, one happy and one sad. He stares at it for a moment, completely dumbfounded, before tearing his eyes away to look at Luffy.

"Happy Birthday, Ace!" Luffy chirps, "Do you like it? Me an' Sabo picked it out a while ago. He told me about your birthday, and we saw it in town one day and thought it was cool. It's perfect right? Cause Sabo had a hat and I have a hat and now Ace has a hat too!"

Ace is staring at him, eyes wide and jaw slack. He can't wrap his head around what's happening. The hat, Luffy, Sabo, his birthday…when has anyone cared about today anyway? He and Sabo used to trade little gifts, nothing special. And Ace made it a point that he didn't want to celebrate his birthday. His mother died today, died bringing him into the world. But Luffy doesn't know any of that and is looking up at him with that stupid grin and the younger boy is so happy for Ace, he's bouncing in place.

Normally, Ace wouldn't care. But this is a gift from both of his brothers, one of whom he won't see for a very long time. This is a gift from Luffy, his little brother, who is so eager to celebrate the day of his birth. He's overwhelmed.

"Sabo?" he asks, finally managing to find his voice.

Luffy nods with a grin. "Mm! It was his idea. Do you like it?"

A small smile begins to form on his face as he runs his fingers over the beads. "Yeah," he says softly.

Luffy cheers and then pulls the box over to them before opening it up. It's a cake. It's on the small side, covered in chocolate frosting with a white skull and crossbones iced onto the top.

"I asked Makino to make it last time she was here," the little Angel explains gleefully.

It's then that Ace notices the little note tucked into the box.

_Hello Ace,_

_I made this cake for you at Luffy's request. He told me that today is your birthday._

_So Happy Birthday!_

_Please consider this my present to you. It's strawberry, which I know is your favorite. The skull and crossbones were Luffy's idea. He wanted me to make you a "pirate" cake._

_I hope you enjoy it!_

_~Makino_

_P.S. Please don't get too upset with Luffy for telling me. He only wants to make today special._

Ace reads the note twice. He can almost see the grin on Makino's face as she wrote this. It wasn't just Luffy and Sabo, but Makino too.

"Ace," Luffy whines, catching his brother's attention, "Let's eat cake. Read the letter later!"

Ace can't help it, he laughs.

Luffy blinks up at him, confused, but pleased, and starts laughing too.

"Sure," Ace says.

"Yay!" Luffy cheers.

They eat the cake with their hands, Ace making sure that they each get _half_ of the sweet treat. When they're done they like their fingers clean and throw the box away. Ace is considerably happier than he was and Luffy can tell. He latches onto his brother, wrapping his arms tightly around the older boy's waist and burying his face in the Demon's chest. Before Ace can shove him away, or say anything at all really, Luffy whispers something so quiet, Ace has to strain to hear him.

"I'm glad you were born, Ace."

Ace stills, eyes going wide. He stays frozen in Luffy's arms, the Angel content to just hold his brother. Slowly, Ace's arms come up to wrap around the younger boy, pulling Luffy closer to him. He's shaking and Luffy tries to peek up at his brother, but Ace is holding him still, not wanting his little brother to see the tears gathering in his eyes. His lips are trembling and he holds the Angel tighter.

"Ace?" Luffy asks softly.

"…Thank you," Ace whispers.

The Demon says it so softly, it's almost lost in the quiet of the room. But Luffy hears it and smiles, squeezing Ace tighter.

"You're mine, Ace," Luffy says, "My brother, my Demon, my Ace. And you promised to stay with me when no one else would. You're amazing and special and _perfect_ and today is my favorite day ever because today is the day Ace was born."

Ace presses a trembling smile into Luffy's hair. "You're so stupid," he says, but Luffy can hear the happiness in his voice, "But you're mine too. My Angel."

And Luffy grins, pulling his precious brother that much closer.

* * *

**So there you have it. A little on the short side, but I like it. I have two new ideas for shots that are probably going to end up long depending on how I write them. We'll have to see. If they do end up being long, I'll probably post short drabbly chapters to keep you guys occupied until I finish them. Also, just so I know, who is interested in reading more of the Wild!AU verse I made back in chapter 4?**

**Let me know what you think! ^^  
**

**Until next time!  
**

**~Elri  
**


	8. Shadows

_****_**Hello my lovelies!  
**

**I must admit that I am surprised by the number of you that want me to do more Wild!AU. I mean I knew you guys liked chapter 4 but, seriously, I was not expecting that many positive responses. Looks like Wild!AU is going to have to be moved up on my priority list. Not that I mind that much. But still, wow.  
**

**Anywho.  
**

**This is the first little short thing that I promised while I worked on the longer ones. It's a companion piece the _Dance_ and takes place during the party at the very end of _The Pure and the Tainted_. Once again, this one is more about nakamaship, but can be a legit ship if that's what floats your boat. There is actually some AceLu in this one though.  
**

**Characters: AcexLuffy, Robin  
Warnings: fluff, slight mentions of past angst, fluff, Luffy being Luffy (i.e. irresistibly adorable), have I mentioned fluff?  
**

**Disclaimer: ...no comment.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Shadows~**_

_Sooner or later, the Light finds them._

* * *

Ace sits by one of the many bonfires, a tankard of grog in hand, and watches as his brother dances with Usopp, Franky, and Chopper, while trying to draw some of Ace's nakama into the fray with them. They are having varying levels of success as the Whitebeard pirates are still trying to apply _logic_ to the young captain's actions. Ace thinks he might pity them – just a bit – if he weren't so entertained.

"I believe that Luffy has broken your crew's brains, Fire Fist-san," a smooth, calm, and amused voice says to his left.

Ace turns and sees Robin sit down beside him, her stoic features alight with mirth. Ace grins. "They'll be fine," he replies easily, "Once they stop trying to apply logic and common sense to him."

Robin chuckles. "Indeed," she says, watching Luffy for a moment before turning back to Ace, "I don't believe we were properly introduced in all of the excitement."

The Demon smirks and holds out his hand. "Portgas D. Ace."

"Nico Robin," the woman replies with her small, barely there smile and a firm shake of Ace's hand.

The Demon catches a strange glint in her eyes; she's curious about something. She wants information from him. Ace smiles mentally, a game takes two. And he likes games. After all, Luffy's nakama or not, if this woman wants something from him, she's going to have to fight for it.

"So when did you join Luffy's crew?" he asks, playing ignorant and taking a sip of his drink, watching the woman over the rim of his tankard.

"Shortly after they left Alabasta," the dark haired woman replies with a small laugh, "They were very lively. It was a bit of a change."

"Alabasta, huh? Sounds like I just missed you," Ace comments.

"So I heard," Robin says with a grin, "You made quite an impression on them."

Ace laughs. "Did I? I thought for sure the two of us confused the hell out of them."

"Oh you did," Robin assures with a sip from her own drink, "But you gained quite a few admires during your visit."

Ace gives her an easy smirk and the two fall into a comfortable silence, content to watch the chaos around them. The Demon watches her from the corner of his eye and isn't all that surprised by what he sees. Luffy has touched her, healed her. Like he's done to all his crew. He can see the scars, the old ghosts. He can read some of them. But none of them are as clear to him as Robin's. When Ace looks at the older woman, he sees shadows. The same shadows that have hung over him since the day of his birth. He grins fondly as he watches Luffy; it seems the Angel just can't help himself when it comes to the dark.

"Is there a reason you are watching me, Fire Fist-san?"

Ace smirks and lets his eyes slid shut. "Not in particular," he replies easily, "I'm just waiting."

Robin raises a delicate eyebrow. "Oh?"

The Demon turns his gaze to Luffy. "He saved you."

It's not a question. And Ace doesn't need to look at the archeologist to see the realization flash across her eyes.

"He did."

Ace hums, his smirk diming into a small smile. Robin watches him, trying to read his expression. She thinks she gets what Nami was trying to explain to them earlier about Luffy and Ace's relationship. It's easy for her to read the Demon's body language, but at the same time there is a depth to it she can't even begin to grasp.

"…How do you see him?" she asks softly.

Ace grins and Robin knows he has been waiting for her to ask. His eyes flicker over her face briefly before turning back to his brother. "He is my soul," Ace says simply, "He is everything that is light and pure." Robin is silent, taking in his words, the tone of his voice, the expression on his face. She has been wondering about this since that night in the crow's nest so long ago when her captain told her she reminded him of his brother. "He glows, you know," Ace continues a soft smile on his face, "No one else can see it, but it's always there, right under his skin. It branches out when he touches people. That's why he always seems so warm."

Robin hums softly and takes a sip of her drink. "I remind him of you," she says after a moment.

The Demon turns to her, giving her his full attention. His eyes lock on hers and she is frozen in place. It's the same weighted stare that her captain has, the one that looks through you, that can see all of you, that you can't hide anything from. His lips twitch into a slow smile, his brown eyes tinged with a knowing, but hopeful, sadness.

"I suppose you would," he replies softly with a light chuckle, "Luffy has this thing for shadows."

Robin smiles at the understanding that's passed between them. "He does seem rather fond of dark places," she agrees.

At that moment, Luffy comes up behind them and throws an arm over each of their shoulders. "What are you guys doing? Sitting is boring! This is a party!"

Robin chuckles and Ace smiles. "Just getting to know your crew," the Demon says, "I didn't get to meet Robin back in Alabasta."

Luffy blinks at that, expression turning thoughtful. "Oh yeah," he says, as if just remembering that fact. Ace and Robin trade an amused look over his head.

"Your brother was nice enough to take the time to talk to me," Robin says calmly.

The Angel looks between them, expression blank. For a long moment, nothing is said. Then Luffy smiles softly and leans forward, pressing a light kiss to Ace's lips before turning to Robin and giving her a soft peck on the forehead, surprising the older woman.

"Okay," the young captain chirps, before getting up and bouncing away, back towards the group dancing around the fire.

Ace watches him before turning back to his companion, laughing at the shocked expression on her face. "Looks like you're part of the family," he says, amused, reaching out and throwing an arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer, "Whether you want it or not."

Robin chuckles and lets herself lean into the fire user's side. "So it would seem," she replies, she pauses a moment before looking up at him, "You are rather warm yourself, Fire Fist-san."

The Demon grins down at her, eyes twinkling. "And you glow rather brightly, Archeologist-san," he teases, tone light, but his gaze is warm, understanding.

The dark haired woman smiles. "It seems us shadows are drawn together," she comments.

Ace chuckles. "But sooner or later, we get dragged into the light."

Over by the fire, Luffy pauses, glancing over at his brother and his archeologist, and grins. Shadows can be dark and dangerous places, but he rather enjoys making them light.

* * *

**So there you have it. Short little fluffy thing. Not originally what I was going for, but this is how it turned out. I think it came out okay. Thoughts?**

**Reviews make me happy! :D  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	9. Family

_****_**Hello everyone!  
**

**First off, I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. My computer access was UBER limited because of Sandy, so I wasn't able to work on anything. But everything is fine now, so I am able to get things done. As an apology, I give you this 15,117 word chapter. XD  
**

**And this chapter is...*drumroll*...Wild!AU! Yay!  
**

**This is pretty much a whole bunch of little snippets of things that happen on the Moby Dick over the years, from when Ace, Luffy, and Makino join, to when Luffy leaves to start his own adventure. Mostly focuses on the boys coming out of their shells and learning about people again, Ace finding his place among the crew, and Makino taking everything in stride.  
**

**Characters: Ace, Luffy, Makino, Whitebeard pirates (both canon and OC, I'm to lazy to list them all...-3-')  
Warnings: fluff, shenanigans, angst, fluff, flashbacks to traumatic events, PTSD, family things, pranks, fluff, Luffy being his absolutely perfect self...lots of things actually  
**

**Disclaimer: Pudding!  
**

**Well, I've delayed you long enough.  
**

**ONWARD!  
**

* * *

_**~Family~**_

_It's not easy finding a place to belong, but sometimes, all it takes is a good argument for everything to start falling into place._

* * *

Life aboard the Moby Dick has changed. The three newest additions to the crew have slowly slid into place; and by slowly, I mean the only reason the ship hasn't exploded is likely because of Makino. The young woman is the one who keeps the crew sane while the boys explore anything and everything, spreading their own brand of chaos as they go. It's that same curiosity that endears the crew to the boys in the first place.

Initially, the boys stay in the infirmary with Makino as she recovers from her surgery. But as she gets better, they begin to explore the ship with all the eagerness of a puppy given a new toy. It becomes a regular thing for the crew to walk on deck and see the two hanging from the masts or swinging from dangling ropes. The pair doesn't interact with the crew much at first, but they don't shy away from every new person they meet anymore either and that makes Makino smile. The boys get by, speaking in three-five word sentences, but it's much more than when they first met and the crew has Makino to handle all of the in-betweens. Though they become rather good at reading the brothers themselves. Ace is somewhat avoidant of the crew, though he is no longer violent, it is still easy to see the distrust in his eyes, so most of the crew treats him cautiously. Luffy is much more open, bouncing around deck and weaving through legs. He seems to have claimed the ship's figurehead has his "special seat" and he can sit there for hours and do nothing but stare at the waves. Ace often joins him and sometimes the crew swears the two are talking to the ship, whispering questions and praises into the wood and then giggling like gleeful children after a moment of silence, almost as if there was a response.

Makino has become a sort of domestic head of the ship. She sews and cleans and helps in the kitchens (much to the crew's pleasure), putting her past skills as a tavern owner to good use. She also seems to have become the unofficial mother of the ship. Taking care of Ace and Luffy for so long seems to have nurtured her maternal instincts and before long, she's breaking up arguments and giving lectures left and right about how to take proper care of yourself and your family. The men grumble and complain, but listen to her anyway, not wanting to risk the young woman's temper (And she does have one; the crew learned that the hard way.), and Whitebeard just sits back and watches it all with an amused smile.

Stopping at islands has become something of an adventure. The first island they stop at after they picked up the trio is a small one, but has a bustling marketplace. Ace and Luffy stare wide eyed at everything. They are surprisingly timid in the beginning – considering all of the mayhem the two cause on the ship – but then the crew remembers their story and they understand. Makino, with some help from some of the crew, manages to coax the boys off the ship and into the market. It isn't long before the pair is running around looking at anything and everything, eyes bright with curiosity and wonder. Though the crew that accompanies them into town notices that they seem to shut down when confronted with a stranger. They back away, usually to Maknio, but sometimes toward their crewmates as well. Makino just smiles and ruffles their dark hair before talking with the stranger. When they finally return to the Grand Line, the boys are absolutely fascinated. The sudden changing weather amuses them to no end and sea king is suddenly their new favorite food.

By now, it is impossible for the crew to imagine life without the three of them; they just fit. Like they are meant to be here, even if everyone can tell they are still holding back. Ace and Luffy still rarely speak and Makino puts distance between herself and the crew because that is what the boys do. Not that anyone blames them. Trust is something hard to give out after what they've gone through. So the crew doesn't force it.

But that doesn't mean they sit by idly either.

After all, Ace and Luffy are their little brothers and Makino is their sister.

They are nakama.

And nakama take care of each other.

* * *

When the boys finally decide it's okay to speak more, the crew thinks a war might break out.

The pair are sparring, something they do quite regularly, about one hundred times a day to be exact. It's obvious that Luffy still hasn't figured out how to effectively control his Devil Fruit yet and Ace shows no mercy, slamming his brother face first into the deck. Luffy bounces right back up though and swings his arm back, making to punch Ace. The older dodges, but when the younger's arm snaps back into place, Luffy can't handle the recoil and goes flying.

Ace pauses, blinking at the sight, before he starts laughing. The sound causes heads to turn. Ace has never been one for expressing how he feels, at least not to their knowledge. Hearing him laugh is unusual and makes those within hearing distance stop and stare.

When the teen recovers enough breath, he crosses his arms over his chest and smirks down at his brother. "Rubber is useless," he taunts, it's mean, but it's teasing at the same time, "Won't hit me like that. Your power's not suited for battle at all."

To the crew's surprise, Luffy sits up and _glares_ at his brother. "Shut up!" he yells, waving his arms childishly.

Ace frowns. "You saying I'm wrong? You're just bulletproof and that's it!"

While wondering just what the hell happened to make both of them so animated so suddenly, the crew wonders what the story behind _that_ particular discovery is.

Luffy is not pleased with the declaration that he is weak and marches right up into Ace's face. "Don't make fun of it!" he yells, "Someday, I'll kick your ass!"

The two are forehead to forehead now, yelling insults and threats that echo across the ship. At this point everyone is staring at the two, open mouthed. This is not only the most they've said _ever_ on the ship in one sitting, it is also the loudest they have ever been.

"So remember when Makino said they used to be loud?" Thatch asks sarcastically, coming to stand beside Marco, arms crossed over his chest.

Marco chuckles. "Hard to believe, right?" he replies, "I wonder what set them off."

"Should we stop them?" Thatch asks, watching the two.

The Phoenix shrugs. "On one side, they're arguing. On the other, this is the most animated they've been since we've met them."

"Soooo let it play out?" the Fourth Division Commander asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I guess," Marco says dryly.

Suddenly, Luffy turns away from Ace, arms crossed over his chest. "Sabo was a much nicer brother than you," he declares.

"What's that mean?! You wish I died instead?!" Ace yells.

And Marco's and Thatch's eyes widen, while others look on in confusion (only the commanders and Whitebeard know the trio's full story, meaning only they know about Sabo), because suddenly, this argument has taken a dangerous turn.

But Luffy just whirls around. "I didn't say that!"

"But it's basically what you meant!" Ace yells back, slamming his fist into Luffy's head.

"Ow!" the Angel cries, hands flying up to his hair, "Sabo never punched me like that!"

"What was that?!"

"What's with you?! Be nicer, will you?!"

"No way!"

And then the two are on the ground wrestling, throwing punches and kicks and lost in a tangle of limbs. It's obvious that, though the words exchanged between the two were harsh, clearly, neither one of them feels hurt by what is said. Which is odd, because most anyone else would be out for blood at this point. But these two just continue on as if this is a regular occurrence, if not a somewhat violent one.

Laughter suddenly sounds over the fighting and everyone turns to see Makino. She's looking at the boys, tears running down her face, the force of her laughter bringing her to her knees. Ace and Luffy stop immediately and scramble over to her and the crew is once again left to stare in awe at the bond shared between these three. Ace and Luffy exchange worried, confused looks because they don't understand what's wrong.

Makino is laughing, but why is she crying?

There's a note of relief in the young woman's laughter though, that has everyone trading looks as she gets herself under control. When she finally stops, Ace and Luffy are on their knees in front of her, looking up into her eyes earnestly.

She chuckles a little and wipes her eyes. "Oh, it's been a while since I've heard that," she says with a grin that looks far too happy for someone who just caught her two charges fighting, "And here I was thinking I would never hear you two again."

The brother's exchange looks before turning back to Makino with sheepish grins.

"So what was it about this time?" the young woman asks with a fond smile.

"Rubber is a stupid power," Ace says bluntly.

Luffy jumps up. "Shut up! It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"I'll kick your ass!"

"Not if I kick yours first!"

And then the two are at it again and Makino just sits there and laughs at them, her absolute joy clearly visible.

"I'm guessing this is completely normal," Namur says after a long moment of everyone just staring.

"So it would seem," Izo agrees, rubbing his temples.

Haruta chuckles. "They seem to be opening up though, if they're doing this where we can all see it."

"I'm not entirely sure that makes it better," Namur says.

"Makino did try to warn us," Thatch reminds the group.

"What warning?" Jozu huffs.

Thatch blinks. "Oh yeah," he says, "You weren't there when she gave it."

Marco rolls his eyes, but can't quite hide the chuckle that passes his lips.

"Care to fill us in now?" Izo asks with a frown.

Thatch just shrugs. "It wasn't much," he admits, "Makino was just concerned we didn't quite understand what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to take them with us."

"Just what the hell did we agree to?" Vista asks.

"Hell if I know," Haruta answers with a shrug.

Marco smirks. "Just let them be," he says, "They're finally being themselves."

"Energetic little brats, aren't they?"

The commanders turn to see Whitebeard standing behind them. Their captain sits down on the deck, watching the youngest two on the ship fight it out with an amused smile.

"Perhaps a bit too much," Namur says.

Whitebeard laughs. "Whoever heard of a tame pirate?"

Before anyone can reply, Ace throws Luffy across the deck and he slams into a wall, sliding down to the deck, his face hidden by his hair. The older boy crosses his arms over his chest, a smug smirk on his face. Luffy finally looks up and releases a groan that is equal parts frustration and disappointment. He springs back up and raises his fists as he glares at his brother.

"Again!" he says.

"Nope," Ace says with a grin, "Only one hundred a day. You can try again tomorrow."

Luffy deflates. "Awwwwww," he whines.

The crew blinks. Just like that, it's over. Like the argument never happened. Luffy springs back up and bounces over to Makino, who is watching the pair of them fondly.

"Makino! Food!"

The young woman chuckles. "Sorry, Luffy. You know the rules. You have to wait for dinner."

Luffy pouts and Maknio ruffles his hair.

The Angel looks around deck for something to do when he sees Whitebeard and the commanders on deck. He grins and drags Ace over to them before climbing into the giant man's lap. He does this quite often so it doesn't elicit such a stunned reaction anymore, still the crew admires the kid's guts.

"Giant Ossan!" Luffy cries, "Story!"

Ace rolls his eyes, but he sits by Whitebeard's knee anyway. They had learned early on that the two of them loved hearing about pirate adventures. It's rather adorable how they would hang onto every word, especially when Ace tries to hide his interest and Luffy babbles his excitement, eyes wide and bright with wonder.

Whitebeard just chuckles at the two of them as the crew slowly goes back to its duties. "What should it be about this time, cheeky brat?"

And Whitebeard does nothing to hide the fact that he likes to indulge them.

* * *

Something changes that day. No one is really sure what it is, but it's like something has suddenly clicked, like a barrier that had been in place has finally been knocked down, because suddenly, things start falling into place. Luffy and Ace start talking more, though Makino tells them it is still nowhere near the normal amount or volume. They start to interact more with the crew and isolate themselves less.

The fact that something has shifted is made obvious when the crew finally learns that Ace's control over his Devil Fruit isn't quite perfect either.

It happens in the galley during lunch; Ace falls asleep and luckily Makino had the foresight to explain Ace's narcolepsy to the crew beforehand so no one freaks out. The young woman easily catches the Demon's head in a practiced movement that lets the crew know this is a fairly common occurrence, before he falls face first into his food. Everyone at the table blinks while Luffy just starts laughing and stealing food from his brother's plate. Makino grins and gently sets Ace's head down on the table before returning to her own meal.

Marco raises an eyebrow. "I take it this happens often?" he asks.

Makino laughs. "Regularly," she says, "I'm surprised he lasted this long without having a sleep attack."

Thatch grins from his place next to Marco. "Oh, this is great. We could get a lot of mileage out of this one."

"Leave me out of your pranks," Marco drawls, rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, Luffy cries out in pain and the little Angel is cradling his arm to his chest and trying to scramble away from his sleeping brother, who, the adults have just realized, is on fire. Makino jumps up and snatches Luffy away before he can get burned again.

"Ace, wake up!" she cries.

The Demon jerks awake, eyes flying open. When he sees the fire and the damage he's caused however, he panics, the flames around him intensifying. Marco, much to Luffy and Makino's surprise, picks up Ace's flaming body, while Thatch and Namur throw water on the burning table and bench, putting out the fire.

When Ace feels arms around him, he immediately starts struggling, even as Marco carries him out to the deck.

"No! Stop!" he yells frantically, "Let go! I'll hurt you! You'll get burned and –"

"Ace," Marco says calmly, "You aren't burning me."

Ace stills and finally _looks_ at Marco, brown eyes widening at the sight of bright blue flames licking across the older man's skin.

"You need to calm down, Ace," Marco continues firmly, "Take a deep breath, focus on containing your fire."

Ace does just that and slowly, the fire calms until it is extinguished. Marco lets his fire go out as well and he lowers the teen to the deck, letting him go when he's sure the young fire user will be able to stand on his own. The Demon is staring at him, eyes racking over his body, trying to find some sort of injury, some kind of burn. But there is none. He looks up at Marco with a strange mix of confusion and fear. Before anything can be said however, Luffy comes rushing out.

"Ace!" the Angel calls, reaching out for his brother.

The Demon backs away, dodging Luffy's touch. They both freeze, eyes locking. Ace's eyes fall after a moment, landing on the burn on Luffy's arm. He bites his lip and turns away. Luffy smiles softly and takes his brother's wrist slowly and carefully, but firmly. Ace refuses to look at him, eyes locked on the deck.

Makino places a hand on Marco's shoulder and the man looks down at her, seeing the worry in her eyes as she looks him over for some kind of wound.

"I'm fine," he says with a slight smirk, "It'll take more than a little fire to hurt me."

Makino's lips twitch into a grin and she gives him a slight chuckle before heading to the boys. "Come on you two," she says, "Let's get you cleaned up."

Luffy looks up at her with a hopeful grin. "Bath together?" he asks.

Makino smiles. "You can take a bath together if you want."

"Makino too!" Luffy cries, tugging at her hand.

The woman laughs and lets the younger boy drag her along with Ace. "Alright, alright. Me too."

"Yay!"

Marco shakes his head after them.

"Looks like his control isn't as perfect as we thought," Thatch says, coming up next to the first commander.

Marco just hums in agreement before the two head back into the galley to check the damage.

Later that evening, Marco is standing by the railing looking out at the sea. Ace had disappeared after lunch and even Makino had no idea where he'd gone. If Luffy knew, he wasn't talking. Marco sighs, they can't leave the situation like this. Ace needs to learn control, but if he shuts himself away, that isn't going to happen.

The sound of footsteps has him turning and there's Ace, looking up at him with a determined expression on his face. Marco silently raises an eyebrow at him and the teen seems to steel himself before reaching out to take Marco's hand. Before Marco can ask what he's doing, Ace's hand catches fire and Marco's fire automatically flares to life on his skin. Ace looks absolutely mesmerized by the blue flames that push back against his orange ones, mixing to create a violet light.

"I hurt Luffy today," the young pirate says after a moment, eyes never leaving their connected hands.

"You did," Marco agrees with a nod.

"I could have hurt other people."

"You could have."

Ace presses his lips together in a thin line before finally looking up into Marco's eyes. "Teach me," he says, eyes showing nothing but determination.

And Marco grins. "Sure."

* * *

The boys are absolutely fascinated by the training sessions the crew has on deck. The pair of them perch somewhere on the deck, usually the mast or the railing, and watch with wide eyes. Ace positively glows when Marco starts to teach him and spar with him on a regular basis. The crew notices right away that something has changed in the dynamic between the two. The little Demon seems less on edge around Marco than he did before. Makino and Luffy just watch them with knowing smiles. Marco notices the difference but doesn't comment on it, continuing on has he had before.

It isn't until Luffy visits him in the middle of his night watch that he realizes just how much things have shifted.

The little Angel grabs his hand and looks straight into his eyes with that same weighted start he gave him when they first met.

"He's let you in," the boy says, "You've gotten past his walls. Be careful with his heart."

And then the boy is gone, heading back to his bed, leaving a wondering Marco behind him.

It's during one of his training sessions with Ace that he first brings out his wings. The Demon immediately freezes and Marco takes advantage of his opening because, awe or not, this is still a training session. Ace barely registers the hit, staring up at him from the deck with wide, wondering eyes.

"You have wings," he says.

Marco smirks. "They call me the Phoenix for a reason, kid."

Understanding crosses Ace's face. "Oh. So that's why you smell like that."

Marco tilts his head to the side curiously and lets his wings change back into arms, putting his hands on his hips. "Smell like what?"

"Rebirth," Ace says simply, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "All of you smell like freedom and the sea, but you all have a unique smell underneath all of that too," he explains, "You smell like fire and ashes and rebirth."

"Is that good or bad?" Marco asks with a cocked eyebrow.

Ace grins at him, eyes twinkling, and that's answer enough.

* * *

When Jozu is accidentally forced overboard in a sparring match, Luffy is the first to jump after him. He catches the large man before he hits the water, white wings growing from his back to slow their fall. Ace, seeing what his brother has done, dives off his perch on the mast, black wings sprouting from his own back as he glides to Jozu's other side. Together, the two of them pull the Third Division Commander back to the deck.

Jozu promptly knocks Luffy over the head. "That was very stupid," the diamond man says, ignoring the puppy-dog pout sent his way, "Thanks, kid."

Luffy beams at him and Ace grins.

"But leave it to us next time, yeah?" Namur says.

"At least until you can carry him on your own," Kingdew adds with a grin, arms crossed over his chest.

"Shishishishishishishi! Okay!"

* * *

"I don't care if you two are hungry!" Makino's voice echoes from inside the galley, "This is a kitchen! Not a playground!"

"Yes, Makino," Ace and Luffy answer in unison.

"And you! You shouldn't be encouraging them! You're a chef! You know how important our job is on a ship!"

"Yes, Makino," Thatch says, sounding sincerely apologetic for whatever it is he's done.

"Now the three of you will get this place cleaned up and it will be completely spotless by the time I get back or none of you will be eating anything for a week! Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'm!"

Makino exits the galley. She's covered head to toe with what was probably going to be that night's dinner. The crew discretely backs away, not wanting to get caught in her temper. When she turns to them, she's wearing her usual sweet smile, but there is a stern edge to it.

"If a few of you could check in on them periodically to make sure they are doing their job?" she asks.

The men closest to her nod vigorously.

Makino's temper isn't a violent one; she never resorts to physical harm and she only raises her voice if what you've done really deserves it. The thing the crew has learned about Makino's temper is that it isn't fear that makes it dangerous (though that is a small part of it), it's the disappointment. Seeing Makino upset with you is like watching your own heart get ripped out. The crew can't tell if that's just the way she is, or if she does it on purpose, but either way, it's ridiculously effective.

The young woman smiles at them. "Thank you," she says sincerely, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go clean myself up."

And with that, she turns and walks away.

Marco snickers as he watches the scene unfold and looks up at his captain. "I think we found a mother," he says with an easy grin.

Whitebeard laughs. "Gurarararararara! And she thought she wouldn't be useful on the ship."

* * *

"Good morning, Whitebeard-san," Makino says with a smile as she walks past him.

"Good morning, Makino."

The young woman sits down between Izo and Haruta, who both look at her quizzically. It's not just her, everyone at the table is.

"Why do you still do that, Makino?" Haruta asks with a slight frown.

Makino blinks. "Do what?"

"Call him 'Whitebeard-san'," Izo explains, "You've been on the ship for over a year; you can call him Oyaji, you know. You're part of the crew too."

The young woman smiles. "I know. But it isn't the right time yet."

"The right time?" Curiel, who is sitting across from her, asks, "What's that mean?"

"It means it would be inappropriate for me to address Whitebeard-san as Oyaji right now," Makino replies.

"I don't understand," Haruta practically whines.

Makino chuckles. "You will when it happens."

* * *

Makino puts a hand to her mouth as she struggles not to gag. What the heck had she just eaten? Her eyes narrow as she looks at the cut up fruit in front of her. Something's not right. She asks the waitress what type of fruit is in the fruit salad and she just gets generic names. So she goes to ask the chef. She has a sinking feeling in her stomach and she's pretty sure she _knows_ what she's just eaten. She was there when Luffy ate his fruit after all and she remembers how awful he said it tasted.

The chef can't really give her any answers either. He just tells her it was an exotic fruit he found in town and wanted to try it out. Makino immediately scolds him for putting something in his food without knowing exactly what it was and he has the sense to look ashamed. She asks to see the scraps and the chef shows her the bin with all of the fruit and vegetable rinds in it. She digs through it until she finds what she's looking for: an unnaturally blue rind covered in swirls.

She stares at it for a moment, face blank before she gives a resigned sigh. Too late to take it back now, she would just have to make the most of it. She puts the rind in a bag and tucks it into her pocket. Haruta's division has a book on Devil Fruits, being the intelligence division. Maybe they can identify the fruit with the peel. She makes sure to explain to the chef exactly what he's done and that if this is how he treats food, he has no business being a chef. He pales at the mention of the Devil Fruit and doesn't charge her for the meal. He offers her more, but she refuses. It was a mistake after all, a very careless mistake, but a mistake none the less.

She finishes her errands and returns to the ship.

"Welcome back, Makino," Vista greets her, taking her bags for her.

"How was the shopping?" Thatch asks with an easy grin.

Makino smiles at him. "Eventful," she replies, "I believe I accidently ate a Devil Fruit."

The two commanders stare at her for a moment.

"What?!" they yell.

Makino calmly retells her story. "Now I am going to tell Whitebeard-san and then I am going to find Haruta. I don't know what type of fruit it was and I'm hoping she can help."

And then she turns and walks off, leaving the two commanders staring after her.

"She's taking it rather well," Vista comments.

Thatch just nods.

* * *

"Ne, Ace! Look!"

Ace looks in the direction his brother is pointing and a large grin breaks out on his face. He jumps out of the crow's nest and down to the deck, startling a few of the crew.

"Marco!" he calls, "Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco!"

"_What_, brat?" the blond man asks when Ace reaches him. Thatch smothers snickers next to him; Ace's attachment to the Phoenix is ridiculously adorable.

Ace points with his large grin. "Luffy saw a ship port side," he says, "We can't make out the Jolly Roger yet, but it looks like those newest rookies."

Thatch and Marco look and, sure enough, there's the ship.

"What did they call themselves again?" Thatch asks, "The Bloody Claw Pirates?"

"Bloody Fang," Marco corrects blandly.

Ace snorts. "It's not like that's much better."

Thatch laughs and claps Ace on the shoulder. Marco just grins at him, marveling how far the boy has come in a short year. If someone had told them a year ago Ace would be cracking jokes with them, Marco would have laughed in their face. But looking at it now, it isn't so hard to believe.

"Their captain is Red Fang Zaki," he says, "Apparently, he's got a Devil Fruit. A Zoan type."

"Five hundred beli says it's a bat," Thatch says with a grin.

"I'm not betting with you," Ace says, "You cheat."

"I do not!" the older man cries indignantly.

"It's a bat." Marco interjects, "If the rumors are correct."

Ace raises an eyebrow at Thatch, who pouts and stubbornly crosses his arms. "Having access to information you don't is not cheating."

The Demon just rolls his eyes. "What about a bounty?" he asks.

"One hundred thirty five million, wasn't it?" Thatch asks Marco.

The Phoenix nods. "Something like that. It's not too bad for a rookie, seen better though."

"You'd think he'd wait until he hit at least two hundred before confronting Oyaji," Thatch comments.

"Maybe he's just not that bright," Alec comments as he approaches, handing a spyglass to Marco, "I've heard some nasty rumors about this one," he adds when his commander takes the glass.

"Like what?" Ace asks.

Alec shrugs. "Just that the 'Bloody' in their name is well earned. And that the captain is a manipulative bastard."

Thatch grimaces. "I hate those types."

Luffy suddenly appears next to them. "I told Giant Ossan," the boy says, "He says Marco will know what to do."

Marco lowers the spyglass with a frown. "Unfortunately, it looks like they want to talk," he says.

"We letting them on board?" Alec asks.

Marco nods with a sigh. "Yeah. You guys know the drill, same old cocky rookies," he says and Alec nods and runs off.

"I don't like the feel of this," Thatch says.

Ace frowns. "I don't like the smell."

And that comment coming from anyone else would make them crack smiles, but from him or Luffy, it's just as serious as Thatch's statement.

Luffy looks up at them. "Are we going to fight them?" he asks, eyes excited.

Thatch chuckles and ruffles his hair. "Not quite yet, kid. But if this goes the way we think it will, you'll get to knock some heads soon enough."

"Yay!" Luffy cheers.

The four of them head to the main deck, where most of the crew has already gathered. The rookie pirate crew steps up on deck, the man in front, who is clearly the captain, strutting across it like he owns it. Most of the crew groans and rolls their eyes; he's one of _those_ rookies. The ones that think they own everything and there can't possibly be anything strong enough to take them down.

The man is tall and very pale. His black hair is long and tied back with a red bandana tied over it. He wears a long, black captain's jacket and there's a sword at his hip. His smile is cocky and a little sinister.

"It's an honor, Whitebeard," he says with a slight bow, his voice like sickly sweet honey.

"Red Fang Zaki, was it?" Whitebeard says indifferently, "Why are you on my ship?"

Zaki just grins. "You know me? Then perhaps you can guess why I'm here. I'm interested in…an alliance of sorts."

"No," Luffy says, speaking up and making everyone turn to him. He stares at Zaki, his face unusually serious, not at all affected by the numerous eyes on him. "You're a bad guy. I don't like you."

Marco places a hand on Luffy's shoulder and pulls him back and shakes his head. Luffy frowns at him, clearly unhappy, but lets the man pull him back.

Zaki raises an eyebrow and turns back to Whitebeard. "You let a child make the decisions on your ship?"

Whitebeard is grinning in amusement at Luffy's outburst, but his smile gains a cool edge to it at Zaki's words. "Not at all. But he's an honest brat and speaks his mind when he pleases."

"I see."

Luffy tunes the conversation out, focusing on the growing sense of wrongness in his stomach. Something is out of place, but he can't figure out what, just that it is very bad. He feels how tense Ace is next to him and knows his brother feels the wrongness too. He just doesn't know what it is.

"You seem to be under the false impression that I am a naïve little waif," Whitebeard says, snapping Luffy from his trance. The wrongness is definitely being caused by the visiting pirate, but his crew is huddled close together and he can't see through them. "Your little head games won't work on me."

Zaki frowns. "Then you will not agree to give me the materials I need?"

"You are a waste of my time," Whitebeard says indifferently, "Get off my ship."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I really need those maps you see."

And Luffy is starting to get uneasy because that sense of wrongness is growing stronger. The pirates shift and Luffy sees something that makes his heart drop.

"Makino!" he yells, darting forward.

Marco is quick to grab him and hold him back, but now everyone sees what he sees. Zaki grins and gestures one of his men forward. Makino is held securely in his arms, a sword pressed to her throat. There is fear visible in her eyes, but her expression is apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Whitebeard-san," she says, "I didn't –"

"Hush, child," the Yonko says gently, "It is not your fault."

Zaki smirks. "Having weak women on your ship is a bad move," he says, either ignoring or oblivious to the glares it gets him. Since Makino's situation was revealed, the atmosphere has gone from bored to tense. "Now about those maps."

Whitebeard grunts. "You have nerve, brat, I'll give you that much. But you are very foolish if you think this will get you what you want."

Zaki raises an eyebrow. "So you will let the woman die?"

The man holding her throws her ground, holding his sword over her. Luffy cries out and Ace hisses. Both of them are tense and Thatch and Marco each have a hold on them to prevent them from doing something stupid.

"No," Whitebeard replies almost casually, but there is a dangerous undertone to his voice, "But you do realize you've backed yourself into a corner."

Zaki frowns and draws himself up, arrogance practically pouring out of him. "If you think we actually need this woman, you are mistaken."

He waves his hand and the man brings his sword down. Several people cry out and Ace and Luffy scream, Makino throws her arms up in a pitiful attempt to defend herself.

Then, to everyone's shock, the blade shatters mid-air.

Silence.

No one on deck moves.

Makino peeks around her hands and stares. There is a slight distortion in the air around her, like a barrier of sorts.

Zaki frowns, breaking the silence. "A Devil Fruit? No matter."

The man draws his own sword, but before he can do anything with it, Ace launches himself at the man, eyes glowing a bloody crimson, and kicks him in the gut sending him flying across the deck. Luffy is by Makino's side in an instant, Marco and Thatch close behind him.

Ace advances on the fallen man, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him up. "How dare you," the Demon hisses, "lay your filthy hands on _my mother_."

Zaki grunts, before smirking and starting to change. His arms shift into wings and his face elongates, teeth turning into fangs. "If you think a mere _child_ such as yourself can defeat _me_, you are sadly mistaken."

Ace sneers, his grip on the pirate before him unyielding, his eyes glowing violently. "If you think you can _scare_ me, then it is _you_ who is sadly mistaken." He pulls Zaki in so they are eye to eye and the pale man pales even more at what he sees in those blood red eyes. "You don't touch what is mine," he hisses, "Or you end up burned."

And then he bursts into flames. The look on the Demon's face is cold and hard as Zaki screams in his grip.

"Ace."

The Demon starts and turns to find Makino looking at him, hand extended toward him. She's trembling. Ace drops Zaki immediately and ignores the crew beating down the rookies and tossing them overboard, heading straight toward the young woman. He kneels next to her, pulling her into his arms burying his face into her hair. He's trembling too. He almost lost Makino. He already lost one mother. He won't lose another.

Luffy is sitting in front them, holding Makino's hand, babbling non-stop. "Makino? Makino? Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they? Ace kicked his ass so it's okay now. Hey, how did you stop the sword? It was so cool! Do you have magic now? Cause the sword just broke! Just kerck-splosh!" And he keeps going on and on dissolving into sounds and hand gestures .

Ace tilts his head so he can smile at his little brother and Makino starts laughing. Marco and Thatch grin down at them. Whitebeard, after making sure that all of the visiting crew have been tossed off his ship, kneels down beside them.

"Are you alright, Makino?" he asks gently, more so than he would with any of the others on the ship. Because Makino might be part of the crew, but she isn't a pirate.

The woman smiles up at him and wipes her eyes with her free hand. "I'm fine. I've been through worse," she says, "At least I know what my Devil Fruit does now."

"Gurararara! Atta-girl!"

"Makino, you ate a Devil Fruit?" Luffy exclaims, eyes wide.

Ace rolls his eyes. "Moron, she told us three weeks ago."

Luffy just tills his head to the side. "She did?"

And they laugh.

* * *

Marco has become something of a guardian for the boys. It was Luffy first; the little Angel seemed to have formed an attachment from that very first moment on the island. Ace followed, though more reluctantly. After Luffy's night visit, the Phoenix found what he said about walls to be very true. Yet, for some reason, he has been allowed in. Makino had mentioned that Ace was never a very trusting person, and he can see that. He has never understood what made him so special, to be the first person let into their world.

But he has embraced it, after all, the young Angel and Demon are his little brothers and he looks out for his own.

So when Ace wonders off the evening after Zaki's visit, Marco trails after him.

He follows the teen to the figurehead, where he's perched himself, legs folded up to his chest, arms draped across his knees. Ace doesn't acknowledge him as he approaches and Marco doesn't say anything, he just sits down next to the Demon and waits. Sometimes it takes a while, but if he really wants to, Ace will talk. Marco has learned that Ace _likes_ to have someone _he_ can go to. Because for the longest time it's just been him and Luffy and Makino. For the longest time, he's been the one who's had to be strong for the others. He's had to take care of them on his own for years; Luffy was too young to do it himself and Makino was injured not to mention unaccustomed to the style of living that was forced upon them. But now it's different, now Ace has an entire crew of people he can turn to for help if he needs it, and he is gradually learning that.

Marco is content to watch the waves as the sun sinks lower and lower in the sky. It is dark and stars have begun to appear by the time Ace speaks.

"Mama died giving birth to me," he says softly, eyes locked on the waves below him. And just like that, Marco knows that even though Ace was forced to grow up very early in his life, he is still very much a child. "I never got to know her," Ace continues, "Sometimes I think I remember her though."

He falls silent again, eyes cloudy.

"What do you remember?" Marco prompts gently. Because he can see how much this woman means to Ace even if he never knew her. It's not just the fact that she is his mother; there's something deeper there. He's going to have to tread carefully.

"Warmth," Ace says simply. And that single word contains all the wonder in the world. "I remember warmth. And light. A very strong, happy light. And a laugh too, like twinkling bells." He pauses, eyes turning to the stars. "I've been told she was very beautiful. And kind. And gentle." Ace hugs his legs to his chest, resting his chin on his arms. "And she died giving birth to a monster."

Marco finally turns to look at Ace. He looks so forlorn it makes the man's heart ache. "I'm not claiming to be an expert," he says softly, "But I'm sure your mother preferred her death over yours."

Ace's grip on his arms tightens, his knuckles going white. "I'm not so sure," he whispers, eyes very sad and angry, a darkness gathering in them.

Marco frowns; he doesn't like seeing that look on Ace's face. "Ace you can't blame yourself for something like that."

"Maybe," he says, "But I've always wondered what it would be like if Mama lived. What it would be like for her to just _be_ here, ya know? I wanted to know how to feel warm." He pauses again, letting some of the tension drain from his body. "And then I met Luffy and through him, Makino. She had known me for all of two minutes and she started taking care of me." Ace smirks slightly in remembrance. "Didn't even ask me if I wanted her to. She just did it. And when she found out who I was, what I was, she didn't care." His lips twitch into a small smile. "She's not Mama, but she's still my mother," he says softly, sincerely.

And Marco smiles a little because that's how pretty much everyone sees Makino. She's their mother. She's kind and gentle and she's given them all something to protect. She chases away some of Ace's darkness too, and Marco hopes one day he can figure out why it's all there in the first place. "She is very motherly," he says, earning a slight chuckle from Ace, "Is that why you reacted the way you did today?"

Ace nods. "I don't want to lose anyone else," he whispers.

"Then you have to protect them," Marco tells him.

Ace goes silent, eyes lost in thought. Marco lets him, watching the stars, knowing that even if he doesn't speak anymore, Ace likes company – though he would never admit it.

"Do you think I'm a monster?"

Marco turns at the soft question. Coming from anyone else, he would have made some kind of joke about it. But he can tell Ace is serious, more serious than he's ever been about anything.

"No," he says simply, firmly. Ace doesn't say anything, doesn't look at him, but the Phoenix can see the brief flash of surprise that crosses his face. "Are you going to tell me why you think that of yourself?"

"Maybe one day," Ace replies. Then he looks at Marco for the first time since they started talking, a real smile on his face. "Thanks."

Marco just gives him a slight smirk. "Anytime, kid."

* * *

Whitebeard is sitting in his chair, drinking sake and watching his sons work when little Luffy climbs up his leg and perches on his knee, straw hat planted firmly on his head. The kid's a bold little snot, he'll give him that much. Never showed the slightest hint of fear. Makino's told him it's because he saw Marco as a good person, otherwise, the Angel would have never set foot on their ship. He's not quite sure what the boy sees that is so good; they are pirates after all and they've done things most people would cringe at. But Luffy doesn't seem to care in the slightest, going along at his own pace.

"Ne, Giant Ossan?"

"Yes, cheeky brat?"

Honestly, the Yonko is expecting him to ask for another story; he never seems to tire of them, and Whitebeard has a lot to tell.

"What's your dream?"

That makes him stop and look down at the Angel. His face is serious in a curious kind of way, big brown eyes staring up at him earnestly. He wasn't really expecting that question, but it doesn't surprise him all that much. The boy is a dreamer after all, with a rather large one of his own, but he's never really taken an interest in any one else's dreams aside from Ace's.

"I already have my dream, brat," he says.

And Luffy's eyes light up. "What is it?"

"To have a family," he replies simply.

The boy stares at him for a minute, face blank, before the biggest grin breaks out on his face and he laughs, light and gleeful, eyes twinkling. "Shishishi! That's a good dream!"

Whitebeard chuckles. "Glad you approve, brat."

Luffy grins before jumping down from his lap, landing squarely on Thatch's shoulders.

"Thatch is it!" he yells before darting off.

"Luffy! Get back here!" the Fourth Division Commander yells after him as he chases him down.

Whitebeard just chuckles at the boy's antics. Somehow, the ship is much more lively with him around.

* * *

Haruta raises an eyebrow as she sees Ace and Luffy crouched on the floor peering around the corner while smothering giggles.

"What are you two doing?" she asks.

Immediately both of them whirl around with identical 'I-didn't-do-it' faces before seeing that it's her; upon which they both put a finger to their lips and promptly shush her. She opens her mouth to ask again what the heck they are doing when they each grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her down to crouch next to them.

"Shhhh," hisses Ace.

"What the hell are you two up too?" she whispers.

"Surprise!" Luffy chirps quietly.

Suddenly, there is a mini explosion in the room down the hall and people are running out of it, screaming and holding their hands over their faces. Haruta recognizes Thatch as he runs by, screaming shrilly at the top of his lungs. The Twelfth Division Commander raises an eyebrow.

"Was he pink?" she questions.

Next to her, Ace and Luffy burst out in hysterical laughter.

* * *

Makino is grinning as she sits between Marco and Rakuyo with the newspaper in hand. Ace and Luffy are there, already shoveling breakfast down their throats like the bottomless pits they are.

"What are you so happy about this early in the morning?" Rakuyo asks handing her a cup of coffee.

"Oh, nothing," she replies, "There was just something interesting in this morning's paper."

Izo raises and eyebrow across from her. "Oh? Interesting how?"

Marco suddenly whistles and everyone turns to see him reading the paper. Namur and Thatch lean over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of what he's reading and Namur's mouth falls open while Thatch chokes on his food.

"What?" Rakuyo asks, getting a little impatient.

Makino rolls her eyes, but she's grinning, so the effect is ruined slightly, and grabs the newspaper, placing it on the table for everyone to see. It's a bounty poster. Not just any bounty poster though. Printed across it in very clear letters is the name Portgas D. Ace.

Silence.

"Holy shit!" Thatch exclaims when he can finally breathe again.

"What do you think did it?" Izo asks.

"Probably that marine fleet he took out two weeks ago," Rakuyo replies.

Ace perks up at that, automatically coming to his own defense after two weeks of teasing. "That was _not_ my fault," he says, "Those marines were assholes and totally had it coming. Besides, they started it!"

Marco chuckles. "Relax, kid. We're not teasing you."

"This time," Thatch adds.

Ace raises an eyebrow and Makino smiles, pushing the paper on the table closer to him. The Demon looks down at it and his jaw drops.

"What the –" he exclaims grabbing the paper. Luffy looks up from inhaling his food at all of the commotion and takes a peek over his brother's shoulder.

The Angel's eyes go wide with wonder. "Wow, Ace," he whispers.

Ace looks up at them, not even commenting on their amused smirks. "Is this good?" he asks.

"For a first bounty?" Namur clarifies. Ace nods.

"Considering we're in the New World and it's your first bounty, I'd say it's pretty good," Marco says with a crooked grin.

"Though now the marines will be hounding your ass like there's no tomorrow," Thatch comments.

"That's not necessarily true," Izo points out, "He's on Oyaji's ship."

"Point," Thatch concedes, "There aren't many marines that are willing to brave Oyaji."

"Ace would have gotten into trouble sooner or later," Makino says, taking a sip of her coffee, an oddly proud smile on her face.

Ace grins at her.

"That's so cool, Ace!" Luffy suddenly exclaims as he bounces up and down in his seat, "You have a bounty!"

His shout has heads turning and everyone is suddenly asking questions and offering congratulations.

"Really?"

"That's great!"

"How much is it?"

"Was it the marine fleet incident?"

"I told you something was going to happen because of that."

"You did not, you liar!"

"Who cares? Ace has his first bounty!'

"We're so proud of you, kid!"

"Damn, that's pretty good for a first bounty."

"Well our Ace is a special guy!"

"That's right!"

"This calls for a party!"

"Break out the booze!"

And Ace is dragged into the throng of people, all of them clapping him on the back, ruffling his hair, throwing an arm over his shoulder, offering him a proud smile. The Demon is overwhelmed at first, all of the crew's praise muffled by surprise. But as it fades, Ace finds himself grinning and laughing along with them.

Makino watches him with a fond smile, her eyes wet.

"You okay there Makino?" Thatch asks, a teasing tone in his voice.

Makino laughs and wipes her eyes. "Yes, yes," she says, "I'm perfectly fine."

Thatch laughs at her and the commanders all grin at the commotion.

"Nothing like a party first thing in the morning," Rakuyo says.

They laugh.

"He's happy," Luffy suddenly says, causing those at the table to turn to him.

"Should he not be happy?" Namur asks, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Luffy shakes his head, a soft smile on his face as he turns to looks at Marco and Makino. "His walls are coming down," the Angel says.

The others are confused, but Marco and Makino share a knowing look. They turn to see Ace laughing and celebrating in the crowd of people.

And they smile.

* * *

Selma frowns as she wraps bandages around Luffy's arm for what seems like the thousandth time. Which is probably an accurate count.

"Honestly," she says, scolding the little rubber boy sitting in front of her as she wraps his wounds, sparing a glance at the next bed over to see Nick doing the same to Ace, "You two are in here every day, I swear. Can't you stop looking for trouble for ten minutes?"

"Shishishishishi! Nope!" Luffy giggles.

Ace just pouts innocently. "But we don't go looking for trouble; it sits there and waits for us to walk around the corner."

Luffy nods vigorously in agreement.

"For some reason I find that hard to believe," Nick deadpans, tying off the last of Ace's bandages.

"You don't believe us," Ace says, a very believable hurt edge lining his words.

Selma gives an unladylike snort. "All I know is that the infirmary was nowhere near this busy before the two of you came on board."

"But we like visiting you, Selma!" Luffy exclaims, "You are the best at making the ochies go away!"

Selma struggles not to falter under that puppy-dog face, wide, innocent eyes looking up at her earnestly.

"You can visit without getting hurt," Nick says dryly, saving Selma from The Face.

"But then it's so boring," Ace whines.

"Portgas D. Ace, if I find out you are getting your injuries on purpose, so help me…"

Ace laughs. "We're not, we're not! Honest!"

Selma just whacks the pair of them over the head. "That's it! Out you two! I have better things to do with my time than fix you!"

"You love us," Ace taunts.

Selma grabs a scalpel that just happens to be in reach and throws it at the teen. Ace ducks, the knife embedding itself in the wood where his head used to be. Ace and Luffy glance at the scalpel, then each other, then Selma, then each other again. They turn back to the woman with identical grins.

"We love you too," they singsong, and then take off before she can throw anything else at them.

Selma groans and messages her temples. "Those two will be the death of me."

Nick just pats her shoulder sympathetically.

* * *

Ace stares at the door in front of him, wanting to step forward and knock, but that same dark fear that's always in the back of his mind is holding him back. Whitebeard is on the other side of the door. The man who took him and Luffy and Makino in almost two years ago. Two years of living at sea. Two years of being free. Two years without silence. Two years of being accepted. Two years of happiness. He doesn't think he's ever been this happy, save for when he met his brothers, when he realized that Makino was his new mother. He doesn't want it to end. But he's been uneasy. Besides Luffy and Makino, no one on the ship _knows_. It's putting him on edge, keeping the secret. But would saying it out loud change anything? Would it make anything worse?

Ace doesn't know.

He doesn't know if he really wants to do this. It could ruin everything.

The choice is taken out of his hands when Whitebeard calls out from inside.

"Don't stand there all night, Ace. If you're going to come in, come in."

The Demon blinks, startled, before hesitantly pushing the door open and slipping inside. Whitebeard is laying propped up on his bed, a bottle of sake – which he has likely snuck past both Makino and the nurses – in his hand. Ace fidgets nervously at the end of the bed and the giant man raises an eyebrow at the tension pouring off the teen in waves. Ace is never nervous. Not that he lets anyone see anyway.

"What is it, son?" he asks.

Ace flinches.

And Whitebeard notices.

The Demon can't help it. It's just that word. And the one that goes with it. What is implied when the Yonko says it.

_Son._

_Father._

Ace _hates_ that connection. It's painful. So very painful. He is no one's son. No even _his_. He has no father. And that's the way he wants it. But…is it really? He hears that word thrown around often. Everyone is either _son_ or _daughter_. And they like it. They call this man _father_ in return and he can see how happy it makes all of them. How much a simple word lights up their world. He doesn't understand though; isn't sure if he wants too. He's never associated those words with happiness before. It's all so…strange to him.

"Ace?"

Ace's brown eyes snap to worried gold ones and he swallows. "Why…why do you call me that?" he whispers.

Whitebeard tilts his head to the side slightly. "Call you what?"

Ace fidgets, shifting from foot to foot, fisting his hands in his shorts. "…son."

"Because to me you are," Whitebeard says simply. He watches as the teen in front of him presses his lips into a thin line, the strange mix of curiosity, fear, and hope that flashes across his eyes. "What is it you want to tell me, Ace?"

Ace's eyes widen and he quickly lowers them to the floor. Should he say it? He's already come this far. Is it really that bad? Ace takes a deep, steadying breath and, before he can talk himself out of it, he looks the Yonko in the eyes and asks _that_ question.

"What would you do if Gold Roger had a son?"

Whitebeard stills and looks at Ace, sees the seriousness in his eyes. The pain. The fear. So that's what the problem has been.

"I'm meant to care?" he asks.

Ace starts, surprised by the answer. "But…weren't you two enemies?" he asks slowly, like he can't believe what he's just heard.

"What would that have to do with his son?" Whitebeard takes a drink of his sake. "Whatever crimes Roger did or did not commit against me are between me and him, no one else."

The Demon stares at him, eyes wide and surprised. He shifts nervously again. "It's me," he says softly, "I'm his son."

His voice is barely a whisper, but no amount of courage he's gathered can make him admit it louder. Whitebeard hears him regardless. And he does what Ace least expects of him. He laughs.

"That's a bit of a surprise," he says, "You don't act much like Roger."

Ace is quiet, staring openly, awe clearly displayed on his features.

"Is that what's been holding you back?" the Yonko asks curiously.

That startles that teen out of his stupor and he smiles weakly at the giant man before him. "People don't…think well of me," he says softly, looking down at his hands, "Even if they don't know it's me. Be it as Roger's son or the Demon, I'm still some kind of monster."

Whitebeard scoffs. "What fools have you been listening to? Anyone with half a brain in their head will tell you differently." He takes another drink. "When you came in here, I thought it was something important."

Ace smiles a real smile then and takes a page from his brother's book and climbs into the giant man's lap. Whitebeard just chuckles at him and the Demon looks up at him shyly, looking a little unsure again.

"Whitebeard, can I…can I be your son?" he asks with an uncharacteristic timidness.

Whitebeard laughs, mussing the teen's black hair with a giant finger. "You've been my son since you set foot on this boat, brat."

Ace grins. "Thank you, Oyaji."

* * *

Ace can feel the stares on his back as he enters the galley, the crew's eyes roaming over the new, but very familiar, mark that has been inked into his skin. He smiles at Whitebeard and politely chirps a good morning to the Yonko before getting his breakfast. The crew just can't stop staring. Amusement dances in Whitebeard's eyes as he watches his sons. The Demon sits across from Marco, who smirks at him knowingly.

"Done thinking then?" he asks.

The seventeen year old just gives the man a cheeky grin.

Makino walks in shortly after and the crew is _still_ staring at Ace's back. Makino follows their eyes, glancing at the teen's back for a moment, before turning to Whitebeard with a bright, knowing grin.

"Good morning, Oyaji," she says.

Whitebeard laughs. "Good morning, daughter."

The crew stares. For the first time in years, Makino has addressed their captain as father.

Izo glances at Ace's back and then at Makino. "We'll know when the time comes," he muses with a slight grin, remembering that morning conversation from a year ago.

Haruta sits next to him, staring. "She couldn't have just said that then?" she asks, whining. But the smile on her lips ruins the effect slightly.

Slowly, the crew comes around, snapping out of their shock and shouting questions and congratulations. Ace just laughs at them, his whole face alight, his brown eyes twinkling. In the middle of all the ruckus, Luffy stumbles into the galley, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What's with all of the noise?" he whines, pouting like a child.

Thomas laughs and claps him on the shoulder. "Your brother finally made up his mind!" the man exclaims, "Now we just need you an' Makino to come around and we'll be set!"

Luffy blinks before whirling around to look at Ace. He walks up to his brother, his brown eyes locked onto the new tattoo, his expression oddly blank. Ace shows no reaction to Luffy's approach and Maknio is watching them with a calm smile. The others are a little more confused. They can't tell if Luffy is upset or not. He doesn't look happy. He doesn't look anything really. And that is a little disconcerting. Whitebeard watches calmly, as do his commanders, though most of them, excluding Marco and Jozu, look a little worried. Ace continues eating right up until the point where Luffy reaches out a hand, brushing his fingertips over the inked mark.

The Demon closes his eyes and stills, surrendering himself to the Angel's touch. Luffy traces every inch of the tattoo, and when he's finished, he presses his palm flat against the center of it. Ace tilts his head back and opens his eyes to look up at his little brother. They stare at each other blankly for a moment before Ace smiles gently.

Luffy grins his typical grin and laughs. "Welcome home, Ace," he says.

There is silence for a moment until Ace starts laughing. Makino joins in and soon enough, the entire crew is joining in, laughing and cheering. Luffy wonders away from his brother and over to Whitebeard. He stands in front of the Yonko sternly, straw hat planted firmly on his head, arms crossed over his chest. Whitebeard raises an eyebrow at the fourteen year old before him. He looks more serious than he ever has been.

"Ace joined your crew," he says.

"He did," the giant man replies.

Luffy looks at him sternly. "I'm not going to," he declares loudly over the din of the galley, causing heads to turn once again, "I won't take your mark."

"Oh?" Whitebeard asks, golden eyes twinkling in amusement, "And why's that?"

Luffy grins, wide and dangerous and determined. "Because the Pirate King doesn't have a captain."

Whitebeard laughs. "Gurarararararara! You've got a long way to go, brat!"

The young teen giggles and looks at his brother's chosen captain fondly, a child-like smile on his lips. "But you can still be my Oyaji."

The Yonko snorts. "Brat," he says with a grin, "You've been my son since you set foot on this boat."

Ace grins from where he's listening and Luffy laughs.

Makino smiles, taking a sip of her coffee. "I suppose it's time to get a tattoo of my own then," she muses aloud.

She laughs at the wide eyed stares she receives.

* * *

Soon the tattoo on Ace's back and the simpler one on Makino's left wrist become a regular thing. Luffy grins at them, but stands firm in his decision: he will not carry Whitebeard's mark. That's fine though.

He's still their little brother without it.

Some short months after officially taking up Whitebeard's mark, Ace becomes the Second Division Commander. It's a bit of a change, Ace being in charge of people, but things slide into place quickly and the Demon easily and readily steps up to his new duties and responsibilities, just as his family knew he would.

* * *

Thatch walks into the commander's meeting room, a light blush staining his cheeks.

The commanders, minus Ace, are gathered around a table playing card games and making bets. Makino sits off to the side watching their exchanges in amusement, a needle and thread in hand as she mends the pile of clothes in the basket at her feet.

"What's with the face, Thatch? And where's Ace?" Jiru asks.

Thatch awkwardly clears his throat as he retakes his seat. "Ace won't be joining us," he says, "He's a bit…occupied at the moment."

Everyone looks at him curiously.

"What the hell does that mean?" Izo demands.

"Well…" Thatch trials off, rubbing the back of his neck.

Makino raises an eyebrow at him, taking in his awkward body language and his flushed features. She's become very good at reading body language ever since Ace and Luffy's prolonged silence and the fact that they speak readily now has not changed that. So when she looks at Thatch, she is quick to grasp what has happened.

She gasps out loud, making the commanders turn to her as she stands up, mending forgotten. "They didn't!" she says, completely ignoring the looks she gets, "I told them to tell me first!"

"Um, Makino –" Thatch starts, but the woman rushes out of the room before he can finish.

They hear a door slam open at the end of the hall.

"What are you two doing?" Makino's voice sounds.

"Makino! What the hell?" Ace yells.

"I told you to tell me before you ever did anything!" the woman exclaims.

"LIKE HELL! Besides we haven't even done anything!"

"That's not what it looked like!"

"Well that's your own fault for not knocking!"

"If I had knocked, you would have stopped!"

"Well, duh! What kind of person wants to walk in on _that_?"

"You should have told me! You're still a child!"

"I'm eighteen!"

"That doesn't mean you know everything you need to!"

"Why are we yelling?" Luffy asks, yelling himself.

There is silence for a moment and all of the commanders are trying to peak through the door to see what's going on down the hall.

"Luffy did you understand what was going on before I came in?" Makino asks, calmer than before.

"What do you mean?" the Angel replies.

"I mean do you know what you and Ace were doing?"

"Well, yeah," he says, "We were –"

"WE ARE NOT HAVING THIS CONVERSATION!" Ace cuts in.

"Oh yes we are," Makino says firmly.

"No we're not!" Ace denies.

"We are or I am going to lock you and Luffy into your own _separate_ barriers until we do. That means no talking and no touching."

"WHAT?! THAT'S COMPLETELY UNFAIR!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WON'T BE ABLE TO TOUCH ACE?! WHY NOT?!"

"Because, Luffy," Makino says calmly, "This is very important conversation, no matter how embarrassing it is."

"Embarrassing? Why is it embarrassing?" Luffy asks. "Ace?"

Ace doesn't answer.

Makino sighs. "Luffy do you know what sex is?"

The commanders' eyes widen and they all whip around to look at Thatch, who coughs awkwardly into his fist.

"Just what the hell did you walk in on?" Marco hisses.

"Did you even knock?" Fossa asks.

Thatch flushes and averts his eyes. That's answer enough.

"…is it a type of food?" Luffy asks.

The commanders collectively sigh, some of them face palming. Luffy is Luffy, pure and innocent through and through it seems.

Ace groans and a thud sounds down the hall. Probably the Demon hitting his head on the wall.

Makino sighs. "No Luffy, it is not food."

"Oh. What is it then?"

"It's –"

Haruta quickly shuts the door, almost catching Vista's mustache and Izo's kimono in it.

"Oi! Be a little more careful!" the cross-dresser says.

"What was that for?" Rakuyo asks.

Haruta frowns, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't know about the rest of you, but having the Talk once in my life was enough, thank you very much."

Several of the commanders shudder.

"Seems out littlest brothers are growing up," Blamenco says after a beat of silence.

"They grow up so fast," Fossa says with a sigh, taking a drag from his cigar.

"I do feel a bit sorry for them though," Vista comments.

Jozu huffs. "Almost."

Marco chuckles. "Well one thing's for sure," he says, "Tomorrow morning is going to be very interesting."

* * *

The first thing Thatch says to Ace when he sits down in the galley the next morning is not his usual greeting. Instead, the older man grins wickedly and asks, "So how was last night?"

The younger commander stares at him blankly for a moment before his cheeks flush and he groans. "You heard."

"Kind of hard not to, my friend," Blenheim says with a grin, "You weren't exactly quiet."

"Sooooooo," Thatch probes, poking the Demon's shoulder, "How'd it go?"

Ace glares. "I thought you were listening," he mocks.

Haruta snorts. "We already had the Talk once, Ace. We didn't need it again."

"But that doesn't mean we don't want all the juicy details of what you did afterwards," Izo chimes.

Ace's blush darkens. "That is none of your damn business."

"But Ace," Thatch whines, "You must tell us!"

"I 'must' do nothing."

"Did you have sex?" Izo asks eagerly.

"What are you, a teenage girl?!" Ace exclaims, flustered beyond measure.

"Maa, you're no fun, Ace," Haruta complains.

"Why the hell do you need to know?!"

"It's not every day our little brother stars having sex," Vista says.

Ace just groans and lets his head fall onto the table. "You guys are evil," he moans.

The commanders just chuckle at him. That's when Luffy makes his way over, plopping himself down next to Ace.

"Hm? Ace? Did you fall asleep again?" he asks, poking the Demon's shoulder.

"So, Luffy," Izo says, "how was last night?"

Luffy cocks his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Did you do anything with Ace last night?" Thatch asks, putting a hand down on the younger commander when he makes a move to stop his brother.

"Huh? Well, we kissed, but then Makino walked in and she got really upset. She even threatened to separate us," the Angel says with a pout.

"Did you do anything after?" Haruta prods.

Luffy blinks at her, face blank. "We slept…" he trails off, looking at the expectant faces around him (some of them could care less, but Thatch, Izo, Haruta, and Vista are staring at him with wide eyes), "Wait…ooooooohhhhhh. Are you guys talking about that sex thing Makino told us about?"

"Yes!" Thatch and Izo exclaim.

"Nu-huh," he says, shaking his head, "We didn't do any of that. Yet, anyways," he continues bluntly, ignorant to both the stunned looks he is receiving for talking about it so openly and Ace struggling to get free from Thatch's arms. "Makino explained everything to us though. Some of it was really…weird," he makes a face and the commanders can only imagine, "But she told us about girls too and I don't understand why," he goes on, an honestly confused expression on his face, "I mean Ace is a boy, so why would I need to know what to do with a girl?"

That makes Ace stop struggling, a dark flush covering his face to the tips of his ears and the roots of his hair, and the commanders stare.

"So you'll only do it with Ace then?" Vista asks after a beat.

"Why would I do it with anyone else?" Luffy asks, tone and face both clearly saying that he thinks this should be painfully obvious to them, "I love Ace more than anyone, so only he can have me. He's my soul."

The commanders have nothing to say to that, Luffy's simple explanation having stunned them into silence. Ace has stopped struggling and Thatch releases him as he watches his brother through half lidded eyes. The Angel smiles at him and Ace just sighs.

"Love you too, moron," he says softly before pressing a quick kiss to the younger teen's lips, "Now eat your breakfast."

Luffy just giggles. "Shishishishi! Okay!" he chirps.

Marco chuckles. "Soulmates indeed," he muses, taking a sip of his coffee.

* * *

Blood.

There's so much of it. It's _everywhere_. There's just so much _red_. Everything hurts. Moving has never been this hard before. How could he have been so strong? Why didn't he see it sooner?

Black closes around the edges of his vision, but he forces it away. He can't pass out right now; Thatch needs him. As much as he wants to, as much as his body is screaming at him to just give in, he knows that if he does, Thatch will die. He doesn't want Thatch to die. So he crawls, slowly and painstakingly, over to the unconscious body lying in a pool of blood. He gathers his nakama into his arms and chokes back the fear and the guilt – _if he had just been a little faster, if he had acted sooner_ – that is trying to claw its way out of his throat.

He presses shaky hands to the bloody wound in Thatch's side, the sticky, warm, red liquid staining his fingers. He's trembling and can't figure out how to stop. It's too much like before; the screaming, the fire, the blood. It's like seeing Makino drip red as she bleeds out all over again. It's like seeing Sabo's lifeless body, that strangely content grin that his brother wore flashing across his memory. It's like seeing the corpses of every person he ever knew rotting in the ruined ashes of the only home he had ever known. His eyes burn with tears and he struggles to keep breathing normally. He's not there, this isn't the same. That was then, this is now. It's different now. It has to be.

Luffy finds himself wishing, not for the first time, that he could heal any wound. He can't stand this helplessness, this powerlessness. It makes him feel empty.

"Please don't die," he whispers brokenly, pressing tighter against the wound, feeling Thatch's faint pulse echoing against his body. He doesn't know what else to do. He doesn't know what to do. He can't think as the tears finally fall from his eyes and a sob tears itself from his throat. He screams.

"ACE! MAKINO! OYAJI! MARCO! SOMEONE! HELP ME!" he screams brokenly to the sky, they are the only ones on deck now, everyone else is still asleep; it's still the early hours of the morning. But someone has to hear him. They _have_ to.

Luffy can't move, can't stop trembling. He tries to fight off the heaving sobs because they won't do Thatch any good. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know. "HELP ME!"

He sobs again, taking a deep, shuddering breath before coughing up a stream of blood. Can anyone hear him? Will they come? He doesn't want Thatch to die. He doesn't want that. But he doesn't know what to do. Doesn't know how to fix it. How does he fix it?

"Luffy!"

He jerks, tearing his eyes away from Thatch's face to look up into Marco's worried eyes.

"Luffy, what happened?" He asks calmly.

"T-Thatch was – he was…I don't – "

"Shhhhh," the Phoenix says, reaching up to rub the back of the Angel's neck, "Breathe, you're okay now. Calm down and then tell me what happened."

Vaguely, Luffy is aware of Thatch's body being taken from his arms. He turns and sees Selma looking him over, her face going dark before she stars shouting orders that the gathering crew scrambles to obey. Nick kneels by her side and helps her start cleaning the wound, whispering to her in hushed tones. Makino appears in his field of vision, eyes worried. She says something to him, but for some reason, he can't hear it. He is suddenly back _there_ again and Makino is bleeding and there's so much _red_ –

"Luffy!"

"Luffy, you need to calm down!"

Marco and Makino are yelling and he can hear them again and Makino's here and _alive_ and _not bleeding_ and he suddenly realizes he's breathing way too fast. He forces himself to take a deep, shuddering breath and lets it out slowly.

"You're okay, Luffy," Makino says, running her fingers through his sweat and blood matted hair, "You just have to breathe."

"Makino – " He's cut off by a wet cough.

"Easy," Marco says, gripping his shoulder, "You don't need to rush."

"How is he?"

The three of them look up to see Whitebeard kneeling over them, expression gravely serious, but eyes worried.

"Oyaji!" Luffy cries, trying to get to his father figure, only for Marco and Makino to force him back down, "Oyaji! Teach! He – he…Thatch's Devil Fruit!"

"Shhhh, easy lad," Whitebeard soothes, locking eyes with his youngest, exuding nothing but calm, "Slow down and try again."

Luffy takes a deep breath, nerves finally settling under Whitebeard's golden gaze. "T-Teach wanted Thatch's Devil Fruit, s-so h-he, he tried to…he attacked Thatch. I tried to stop him…but he…" Luffy trails off, eyes growing distant.

"_**What?"**_

They turn to see Ace standing on deck. He looks calm, but there's something deadly about it, something dangerous. His eyes are glowing crimson and black is flickering around the edges. Luffy feels a sudden chill go down his spine and all of his instincts scream at him to _get rid of the Demon_ but the Demon is Ace and he would never make Ace leave him because he loves him and needs him and he will never let him go. But he doesn't like this feeling and he wants it to go away.

"A-Ace," and damnit all, why can't he stop stuttering?

Ace snarls and the black in his eyes grows darker. Luffy shoves Marco and Makino away from him, actually fights them when they try to hold him back, and crawls across the deck towards his brother. Trembling hands reach up and grasp black shorts as he stares up at the Demon. Ace isn't looking at him; his eyes are locked on the pools of bloods staining the deck.

"Ace," Luffy calls, tugging at the shorts in his grip, "Ace, stop it."

But the Demon isn't listening. The Angel feels him start to shift and doesn't know why his instincts _scream_ at him that this is bad and it needs to stop _right now._ Because if it doesn't he's going to have to do something he won't want to and he doesn't like the way this thing inside him wants to hurt Ace and he just wants it to _go away _but he doesn't know how to make it stop so he cries out desperately.

"ACE, STOP IT!"

Ace looks down at him, eyes almost completely black, and _glares_ at Luffy. The Angel whimpers when he feels the intent behind those eyes, the bloodlust, the hate. That isn't Ace. "Ace, stop it," he says choking on a sob, "Stop. Come back." He looks up into his brother's eyes as fresh tears start streaming down his face. "Please don't leave me," he chokes out in a barely audible whisper.

For a long moment, nothing happens.

Then Luffy sees a spark of recognition in those dark eyes and the black starts to gradually recede. The crimson fades soon after and Ace falls to his knees in front of his brother. Luffy wastes no time throwing his arms around the Demon's shoulders as he finally gives into his sobs. "Ace! Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace!"

A hand comes up to tangle in his hair. "Shhh, it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry. I won't leave you. It's okay. Shhhhh."

Dimly, the Angel hears the crew confirming that one of the lifeboats is missing and that Teach is gone. He feels Makino and Marco approach, knows that they're talking, probably about something important. But he can't make himself care. He shuffles as close as he can to Ace, his face buried in the Demon's neck, his body trembling even as his sobs calm. The strong arms around him tighten reassuringly and he finally lets himself succumb to the darkness.

* * *

Ace doesn't leave Luffy's side.

He and Thatch have been under Selma and Nick's constant watch for the past three days. Neither one has shown any sign of waking. Ace sits silently by his Angel's side during the day and curls around him protectively at night. Makino sits with them to sometimes and the rest of the crew filters in and out of the infirmary.

It's sometime mid-morning on the fourth day that Thatch wakes up. Marco had just walked in with some breakfast for Ace when the Fourth Division Commander suddenly groans. The pair of them are immediately at his side as his eye flutter open.

"Marco?" he croaks, voice hoarse from lack of use, "Ace?"

"We're here," Marco says, "How are you feeling?"

Thatch squints, trying to focus. "Dunno," he replies, still somewhat groggy. Then he blinks a few times and his eyes go wide. "Shit!" he exclaims, bolting upright in bed only to grab his side when his body protests the movement. He pushes the pain away though. "Where's Luffy? What happened? Is Teach –"

"Easy, Thatch," Marco says, laying a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Luffy's fine," Ace adds, moving to the side so his fellow commander can see Luffy lying in the bed next to his.

Thatch relaxes and lets Marco push him back into his pillows.

"As to what happened," Marco continues, "Luffy got us on deck a little before day break and managed to tell us that Teach attacked you for your Devil Fruit and that you tried to fight him off, but that was about it. He was pretty hysterical."

"It's the PTSD," Ace cuts in softly, "Selma diagnosed all three of us with it. It's not so bad most of the time. We can deal with fire and blood well enough, kind of had to with my abilities and all, even death to an extent, as long as it's not someone we're attached to." Ace pauses, turning to glance at Luffy's slumbering form. "Seeing you covered in blood was probably what triggered it, Thatch. Probably reminded him of when Makino almost bled out."

Thatch rubs the back of his neck, face apologetic, and Marco has pressed his lips into a grim line.

"Oyaji knows about it," the Demon adds, almost as an afterthought.

Marco sighs. "We managed to calm him down, but he passed out before we really got anything," he says.

"We checked the ship, no sign of Teach," Ace adds, "Where ever he is, he's long gone by now."

"If he's smart, he'll leave New World," Thatch comments.

Marco nods. "Most likely. Oyaji hasn't acted on anything yet; wanted to wait for you, preferably both of you, to wake up."

Thatch's brow furrows. "How long have we been out?"

"A little over three days," Ace answers.

The older man grimaces and rolls his shoulders. "Well that explains a few things," he groans.

"Anything you can tell us about what happened?" Marco asks, arms crossed over his chest.

Thatch shrugs. "There isn't really much to tell," he says, "Other than Teach is a bloody coward. He was quite literally going to stab me in the back. Would have worked too, if Luffy hadn't called a warning in time; he caught me in the side instead."

"That was a _missed_ shot?" Ace asks, eyes wide in disbelief, "He nearly killed you anyway!"

"Like I said, it was a close call."

Marco runs a hand through his hair. "Well this is a fine mess."

Ace shrugs. "Not much we can do about it right now."

"He's right," Thatch says reluctantly, "We don't know anything about the situation; acting now would be jumping in blind."

"Ace…"

The three of them turn to see Luffy frowning in his sleep, his head turned toward them. Ace is next to him in an instant.

"I'm right here, Lu," he whispers.

Luffy sighs and his lips curve into a small smile. Ace runs his fingers through his little brother's hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead. The Demon sighs as he pulls away, brushing his fingers over Luffy's cheek.

"And then there's Luffy," Marco says.

Ace stays on Luffy's bed, taking hold of one of the younger's hands. "He'll wake up soon," he says firmly.

Thatch and Marco don't say anything.

* * *

Two more days pass.

When Luffy finally wakes up, it isn't slow or gradual. He sits bolt upright, startling Ace awake, and, in typical Luffy fashion, the first words out of his mouth are:

"I'm hungry."

Ace stares at him blankly for a moment before breaking out into gut-wrenching laughter and tackling his brother back onto the bed. Luffy gasps in surprise, his entire face lighting up when he realizes just who is on top of him.

"Ace!"

"You moron," Ace says with a grin when he's finally calmed down.

Luffy just giggles and drags his other half to the galley, ignoring Ace's protests about letting Selma look him over. The Angel knows that Selma will be mad. But he needs food and he needs it now, so she is going to have to wait. When the enter the galley, everyone has just started lunch and a hush falls over the crew for all of five seconds before they all start shouting in unison.

"LUFFY! YOU'RE AWAKE!"

The teen grins, showing all of his teeth and laughs. When he spots Thatch sitting with Marco and Whitebeard, the Fourth Division Commander has about no time to brace himself before he's faced with an armful of Luffy.

"Thatch!" he cries, wrapping rubbery arms around the man's torso, burying his face in his chest. Thatch grunts as all of the air rushes from his lungs and his not-quite healed wound twinges painfully. But he can't bring himself to pull away when the kid looks up at him practically radiating happiness. Of course, Luffy lets go himself when Makino places a huge plate of food on the table in front of him and his attention is otherwise occupied. And if Luffy doesn't normally sit in Thatch's lap during lunch, well, no one says anything.

* * *

"Good luck, Luffy!"

"You sure you wanna start in East Blue?"

"We'll miss you!"

"Get a strong crew!"

"Make sure to give the Marines hell!"

"Do you have enough food, Bay? Luffy's a bottomless pit!"

"Go kick some ass, brat!"

"Damn, I'm gettin' all emotional!"

"The hell, man! Men don't cry!"

"They do when there littlest brother is leaving!"

"They grow up so fast…"

Luffy smiles up at the crew leaning over the rail of the Moby Dick, waving and shouting goodbyes. "Don't worry, guys!" he tells them, he pauses takes a deep breath and then yells at the top of his lungs, "I'M GOING TO BE PIRATE KING!"

The crew laughs as one, cheering him on.

"Luffy!" Makino yells, "Be sure to have lots of adventures!"

Luffy grins. "I will!"

"And Bay! If he misbehaves, don't let him have any meat!"

"Makino…" the Angel whines.

Whitey Bay laughs at his pout. "I'll keep that in mind, Makino!" she turns to her temporary charge, "Ready to go, kid?"

He grins. "Yeah!"

"Leaving without saying goodbye?"

The Angel turns to see Ace perched on the rail of the ship, a sly grin on his face.

"Why would I say goodbye if I'm just going to see you again?" Luffy asks, grinning right back.

Ace laughs and hops off the rail, walking up to his brother and pulling him into a tight embrace. Makino smiles softly at the sight; she'll have to keep an eye on Ace in the coming weeks. She'd keep an eye on Luffy to if she could. This will be the first time they are apart since met a little over ten years ago, parting would be difficult. But Luffy is determined to follow his dream and Ace would never even think of trying to stop him. Luffy and his dreams go hand in hand, much like pirates and the sea; to try and separate them is nothing short of madness. So Whitey Bay offered to cart her youngest brother back to the East Blue to start his crew, as Whitebeard suddenly leaving the Grand Line would probably cause something of a stir.

Ace pulls away and Luffy smiles at him before leaning up and pressing their lips together. It's nothing new but the nurses still coo over them, while some of the men shout "Get a room!" before laughing like loons.

Marco rolls his eyes. "Gotta love family," he says.

Thatch snorts next to him, leaning back against the rail. "Can't live with them."

"Can't live without them," Makino finishes with a giggle.

"It's going to be so boring without him here," Thatch whines.

Marco pats his shoulder. "You do realize we still have Ace, right?"

Thatch pauses. "Ace is rather good when it comes to pranks," the commander contemplates out loud. Marco rolls his eyes and Makino hides a smile. "Still, I'm gonna miss that kid. I remember when he was just a brat!"

"He's still a brat," Marco says dryly.

"A smaller brat," Thatch corrects.

Makino just laughs at them.

Ace pulls away from his Angel and Luffy grins up at him. "Love you," he chirps.

The Demon grins and pinches his cheek. "You too, moron."

"Shishishishishi!"

Whitey Bay rolls her eyes from where she stands watching them, a smile twitching on her lips. "Alright you two, we doing this or not?"

Ace sighs, but releases his brother. "See you at the top, little brother," he says with a smirk.

Luffy flashes him that same wide, determined grin that leaves no doubts and he leans down to press one last kiss to the Angel's forehead before jumping back to the Moby Dick. Luffy's eyes follow him and Ace turns to look back as him with a small, fond smile. The Angel laughs and waves at the crew.

"See you later guys! When I come back, you can meet my crew! And they'll be stronger than you guys!"

The crew shouts protests at that, though they're all wearing good natured grins.

"Gurararararara!" Whitebeard laughs, "You cheeky brat! Make us proud!"

"Shishishishi! See you later, Oyaji!"

Whitey Bay grins. "See you in a few weeks, Oyaji," she says, "Set sail!"

"Aye, Captain!"

Luffy grins and rushes to the figurehead of Bay's ship, throwing both of his arms into the air.

"Off to the East Blue!"

* * *

**Well, there it is. I might come back and do some more Wild!AU Moby Dick shenanigans if I can think of more later. We'll see how it goes. In the mean time, you lot have this. I hope this satisfies those of you who were looking for some more Wild!AU. And again, I apologize for the lateness.**

**Let me know what you think!  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	10. Watching

**Hi everyone!  
**

**Sorry again for the late update! But it's that time of year when my professors start freaking out and throwing work at me. On the plus side, I got some of it done. Now all that's really left is a research paper. Which I should probably get started on...soon...cause it's due in like a week...and I haven't started it yet...  
**

**Anyway!  
**

**On another note.  
**

**THIS FIC HAS 100 REVIEWS! ADjaiasahdcKLAJL:AKJDAKDLAKJDA:KJFSFICNLKAHDOJaslkfjcfaknck HDakdhonlKAShf:Lf! You guys have no idea how happy this makes me! This is the first time it has ever happened. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU ALL! COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!  
**

**Also, to my Guest reviewer: **Not to worry! There will be more Wild!Au in the future! Not saying when, but there will be more. That little verse has kinda developed it's own story and I've outlined almost the whole thing. I can confirm right now that both Shanks and Luffy's crew will be involved and there will be shocking meetings to be had. Also there will be more AceLu because duh. Not in this chapter though, at least not a lot. Sorry. And I am okay from Sandy. Thank you for your concern! We didn't get hit as hard as some places, just lost power for a bit and all electronic devices were confiscated by my mother to try and prevent sneaking onto the internet. Because things were sketchy there for a while. But it turned out okay in the end! Also, thank you for the review! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! :D**  
**

**Hmmmm...that might be a bit of a teaser. Not sure. What do you guys think? Did any of you actually read that part? Wait, do any of you read this part in general? Well that's a dumb question going by your reviews. But seriously, what do you guys think?  
**

**Getting off topic.  
**

**Moving on.  
**

**So this shot is a little different than the others. Because this shot is about Sabo. Yay, Sabo! Yes Sabo. This shot follows what he's doing during the events of _Pure and Tainted_,Ace and Luffy are still mentioned, but they are not the focus of this shot. This is because I fell like I have not given Sabo enough love. So. Sabo-shot. It takes place in an afterlife-ish kinda setting, so we will also be dealing with other dead characters. Hooray!  
**

**Characters: Sabo, Rouge, Roger, Thatch, various others (I am too lazy to list them all)  
Warnings: fluff, talk of death, implied torture, fluff, the world being completely unfair, break downs, fluff, the strangest families ever formed in the history of ever  
**

**Disclaimer: I really want some food right now...but that would involve getting up...arugh, the dilemma!  
**

**ONWARD!  
**

* * *

_**~Watching~**_

_The third never really left._

* * *

When Sabo starts to come to, the first thing he feels is warmth. Like someone is holding him. He's never really been held before. His parents never cared for that sort of thing and Ace and Dadan and the guys show a rougher, more subtle kind of affection. Luffy hugs him a lot, but his little brother is smaller than him, so Sabo holds him. But he _himself_ has never been held. The realization makes him a little sad, but also makes him enjoy the warmth that much more. As he becomes more aware, he feels something – fingers? – carding through his hair. He's leaning into something warm and very soft, held in place by something long, thin, and just as warm wrapped around his waist.

He feels heavy for some reason. He tries to move his arms only to find that the most he can do is twitch his fingers. This makes him focus on what he's feeling and he realizes that he's…vibrating? No, the thing holding him is. But it's not really vibrating; it's more of an echo. That's when he hears the humming. It's soft and smooth and delicate; it makes him feel safe. It also sounds familiar to that song Luffy hums all the time, except in tune and without the glossing over of the forgotten bits. Luffy said Shanks and his crew used to sing it, right? So that makes it a pirate song. Who is humming a pirate song?

Sabo decides to stop trying to move in favor of just opening his eyes. At first, his eyelids are just as heavy as the rest of him. Slowly though, he is able to lift them. It's bright. Very bright. He shuts his eyes again and opens them carefully.

The humming has stopped.

His eyes are open again. And this time he can see. And what he sees takes his breath away. A woman's kind face is smiling down at him. She's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen; even prettier than Makino, which is saying a lot because Makino is _really_ pretty. She has long, shiny hair that cascades over her shoulders, brushing against his arms, a tropical red flower tucked into the light tresses. Her features are delicate: pale, pink lips pulled into a gentle smile; a splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks; deep, kind brown eyes that somehow remind him of Ace.

"Hello, Sabo" she says, grinning down at him, "Finally awake?"

Sabo blinks. "Um…yes?"

The woman laughs. It's a light sound, like twinkling bells, high and free.

Sabo realizes that he's sitting in her lap, her arms wrapped around him. He sees his hat sitting on the ground next to them. He looks up and finally takes a look around. They're in a field, a very large field, one he's never seen before, filled with flowers and grass and a few trees here and there. He turns back to the woman holding him and finds her simply watching with a gentle smile.

"I don't mean to be rude," he says slowly, some of his confusion seeping into his voice, "but who are you? And how do you know my name?"

The woman smiles. "My name is Portgas D. Rouge."

Sabo blinks, his brow furrowing. He's heard that name before. Where has he heard it? Oh. Ace had mentioned it once or twice before. He said it was his…mother's name. Sabo's eyes go wide. "You're Ace's mom?" he half asks, half yells.

Rouge just laughs. "Yes, yes," she says, her eye twinkling, "And I know you from watching over him. You are a very good friend to him."

He stares, trying to wrap his head around what's happening. "But aren't you…dead?"

Rouge's smile fades some. "Yes," she says calmly.

He blinks. Oh. Well. "Does that mean I'm dead?"

Her smile turns sad and she runs slender fingers through his blond curls. "Yes."

And then he remembers. The boat. The fire. The explosion.

"Oh," he says softly, voice no more than a whisper.

He's not sure how he feels about that. Is he supposed to be sad? Angry? He doesn't really know. What he does know is that he won't see his brother's anymore. And that makes him feel regret. They won't be able to sail together. He won't get to see Luffy grow up. Or see Ace achieve his dream.

"Shhhh," Rouge soothes, and Sabo realizes he's close to tears, can feel them stinging the backs of his eyes, "You're okay; everything will be fine."

"But…"

Rouge shakes her head. "You'll be able to see them again," she says, like she knows what he's thinking, "But it might be a while before they can see you."

Sabo is quiet for a moment, trying to understand everything that is happening. Rouge rubs his back, silently waiting. "What am I supposed to do now?" he asks.

"You watch over them," the woman says, "Guide them and protect them as best you can until the day they join us here."

He nods slowly. "Okay. But…what about right now?"

Rouge grins and Sabo blinks because her smile looks almost like Ace's but there's just something in his that hers doesn't have. "Right now, I am your guide," she says, "I'll take care of you."

"Why?" Sabo can't help but ask. No one has ever _wanted_ to take care of him. Not even his own parents.

Rouge just smiles at him. "You are my son's brother. The brother of my son, is my son."

Sabo stares up at her and his lips slowly spread into a wide smile. "Okay, Mom."

She laughs.

* * *

They're in a forest right now. Rouge is holding his hand as she guides him down a dirt path telling him all kinds of things. How the world they're in now works; how they can interact with the world they left behind.

"So we can only visit people we knew while we were alive?"

Rouge nods. "And anyone they happen to form a deep bond with."

"So I could watch over Ace and Luffy's crews?"

She laughs. "Yes, you can probably watch over their crews as well."

Sabo nods. "Good. Cause Luffy's will probably have to babysit him and Ace's will probably be at their wits end trying to keep him out of trouble."

He smiles when she laughs again. He likes her laugh. He swings their connected hands as they walk. Back and forth, back and forth. It's odd, how much of a child he feels like right now. Maybe it's because he's never really had parents. Or maybe it's because no one has ever taken care of him before, treated him like a child, like something precious. He thinks he should find it odd how much he likes holding her hand but he doesn't; it's warm and safe. Sabo thinks that it's too bad she died before Ace could know her; Ace would like her very much.

"Do you watch Ace?" he asks, even though he knows the answer.

But Rouge just smiles. "Yes."

"He loves you very much."

"I love him."

Sabo pauses. "He would probably cry if heard you say that," he says softly.

Rouge tightens her grip on his hand and sighs. "Ace has been dealt a very unlucky hand in life," she says, a sad frown on her face, "The world will hate him without even knowing him just because of the blood in his veins and the color of his wings." She pauses, stopping to look down at him, a small smile tugging at her lips. "But if anyone can bring him some light in that darkness, Luffy can."

Sabo grins.

* * *

Rogue opens the door to a small house, Sabo right on her heels. He looks around curiously.

"Is this your home?" he asks.

Rouge nods. "Of a sort. Places and things don't mean much here. Neither does time."

"So it's here right now, but could be gone tomorrow?"

"Correct," she smiles at his confused face, "It takes some getting used to, but things in this world are based on our thoughts."

Sabo nods slowly, taking that in. "That makes sense."

"Rouge! There you are!"

Sabo whirls around at the sudden voice, coming face to face with a tall, dark haired man standing in the doorway to what looks like the kitchen. He's wearing a red captain's jacket with gold tassels and a plain shirt and pants underneath. A black mustache is in place over a _very_ familiar grin. A grin that looks _just like_ Ace's. It has that something that Rouge's was missing.

"Hello, Roger," Rouge says with a smile.

"So his is him, huh?" The former Pirate King says, kneeling down in front of a gaping Sabo. "Bit of a tough break you caught, kid. But I've gotta admit, you've got some guts in ya!" He threw his head back and laughed.

"Y-You're…"

"Gol D. Roger," he says with that same wide grin, "At your service, kid."

Rouge chuckles at Sabo's shocked expression. "I think you've overwhelmed him."

Roger rubs the back of his neck sheepishly while Sabo tries to wrap his head around what's happening. "You don't act like a devil," he blurts without thinking.

The man blinks, before breaking out into loud laughter. "Boy, you have a lot to learn about the world. You and Ace both," Roger sighs and shakes his head, "Damn kid is asking all the wrong questions."

Sabo stares. "Ace…I mean…he doesn't…"

Roger and Rogue both give him the same sad, gentle smile. "It's alright, lad," he says, "I know what Ace thinks of me. I knew he would probably come to feel that way as soon as I found out Rouge was pregnant with him. The world is a very cruel place, Sabo."

Sabo shifts nervously. He never in a million years expected to meet Roger; never even considered the possibility. But now that he has, he isn't really sure what to think. He doesn't know what he expected, but whatever it was, it wasn't this.

Roger suddenly claps, standing up to his full height, grin back in place. "But Ace is a stubborn brat, he'll be fine."

"He'll be just like his father," Rouge comments.

Sabo blinks. "But Ace doesn't wan –"

Roger cuts him off with a laugh. "You know what I did that got the world so angry with me, kid?" Sabo slowly shakes his head. "I lived how I wanted to. Ignored the rules and laws and did whatever the hell I felt like. To live freer than any man and to live without regrets."

And Sabo finds himself staring because that sounds _exactly_ like Ace.

"Stubborn brat he is, too," Roger continues, "Never runs away from a fight! He's already a man at his age!" And then he laughs.

"He gets that from you," Rouge says dryly.

Roger pouts. Yes actually _pouts_. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"It will get him into trouble one day!" Sabo cuts in, surprising both himself and the couple, "Do you know how many times I had to bail him out because of that?"

"Yes," Rouge says calmly.

Roger grins. "Of course it'll get him into trouble! But what kind of man doesn't brave danger when he has something to protect? You never turn your back on an opponent or you lose!"

Sabo groans. "You sound just like him."

Rouge laughs and Roger claps him on the shoulder with a grin. "Welcome to the family, kid!"

* * *

Sabo really wants to hit Ace. Hard.

But, unfortunately, he no longer has a physical form so he has no fist with which to hit Ace.

It has been three days since his death. _Three days_. He gets what Rouge meant now when she said that time moves differently; he was pretty sure he had spent weeks with her and Roger before he finally worked out how to visit his brothers. And what does he find? Luffy drowning in sorrow and Ace not doing anything to fix it. It has been three. Entire. _Days_.

Luffy has stopped talking. Stopped _eating_.

Sabo wants to take Ace by the shoulders and shake him and demand _what the fuck do you think you're doing_ and _I told you to take care of him damnit_ and then beat the crap out of him for ignoring their little brother. But Ace can't see or hear Sabo, and Sabo can't hit Ace. He can only watch as his brothers try to figure out how to handle his death. He feels a bit bad when he thinks of it like that because Ace lost him too, but Luffy's biggest fear is being alone.

He stands next to Ace as he watches Luffy cry on the cliff. The Demon runs a hand through his hair. "Damnit, Sabo," he mutters, "You were always better at this than me." Ace clenches his fists at his side, frustration and worry showing in his eyes.

Sabo softens some at that. Because Ace is right. Sabo was always the one to comfort Luffy when he was upset or sad; Ace just doesn't know how to deal with it.

Instinctively, he reaches out and puts a hand on his brother's shoulder. He's surprised when he feels warm flesh under his palm instead of just passing through Ace. The Demon stiffens and Sabo realizes that Ace can _feel_ him. He's not sure how this is happening, but he decides not to waste his chance.

"Don't be stupid, Ace," he says and Ace's eyes go wide with shock. The Demon looks around frantically, but his eyes pass right over Sabo. The blond boy tightens his hold on Ace's shoulder and he stills. "You're his big brother too, Ace. He needs you."

Ace bites his lip, eyes wet. "But…I don't know what to do," he whispers, voice trembling.

"You don't need to," Sabo says gently, "You just need to be there."

And he removes his hand from Ace's shoulder. The little Demon reaches up, almost as if to catch his hand and hold onto it and drag it back, but he's met with empty air. Sabo watches with a sad, fond smile as Ace squeezes his eyes shut, lips trembling. He presses his palms to his eyes and takes a deep shuddering breath. He waits until his trembling stops and then removes his hands. The Demon looks determined now and walks toward his little brother.

Sabo grins at him even though Ace can't see it.

* * *

Sabo quickly grows into his role as Ace and Luffy's guardian.

He still doesn't know what happened that day, but he's discovered it wasn't a onetime thing. Most of the time it's just touches; but Ace and Luffy _know_ he's there sometimes. He can touch them and they can feel him. It's rare, but it happens. Rouge and Roger are a bit baffled when Sabo tells them about it; after all, they shouldn't be able to interact at all.

But Ace and Luffy aren't normal humans.

They are the Demon and the Angel.

So perhaps that is why.

The three of them can't think of any other reason.

And that's another thing that Sabo has grown into.

Rouge and Roger have more or less adopted him. They are his parents and he is their son. Rouge makes him feel like a child sometimes, something he finds he doesn't necessarily dislike. Being a child once in a while is…nice. Roger seems to think so as well because he acts just like one, albeit a very large one. At first, Sabo is surprised how easy it is to get along with the man; he's a lot like Luffy. So much so that it scares him a little. It makes him wonder to. Just what Luffy will be able to do. The possibilities are endless.

It just sort of happens. He starts calling them 'Mom' and 'Dad'. He doesn't mean to, in fact, he isn't even aware he's doing it at first until he notices the bright grins on their faces and finds that he quite likes having them as his parents. They are what real parents should be; people who care for their children, not use them of their own gain.

Sabo decides that when Ace dies, he's locking him in a room with Roger and not letting them out until Ace learns to get along with his father. Because the crap that people spout about him is ridiculous.

Rouge gently points out that they don't know any better. They are fed lies that are sold as truths by the government. Sabo knows that she is right, and he knows that she is in no way trying to justify their actions or words, but that is no excuse for being so obliviously ignorant. For wishing for the death of a _child_. For _relishing_ in the mere thought of it. It's disgusting and makes Sabo fume.

He is so very, very proud of Luffy when the boy gives Ace their gift that first birthday after his death. And when the Angel embraces the Demon, and the Demon cries silently in those loving arms, Sabo wraps his arms around both of them and holds their souls close.

As time passes, Sabo lets himself grow up with his brothers. It's a bit weird as Rogue and Roger remain unchanged, as do many others that they meet and visit. But as Rouge told him when he first arrived, this world is controlled by one's thoughts. And Sabo wants to grow up with his brothers, even if he can't do it physically. His parents seem overjoyed with this decision, though he can't quite understand why. When he asks, Roger laughs, long and hard, while Rouge smiles gently.

"Parents are always proud to watch their children grow," she says.

Sabo blinks, completely dumbfounded, before grinning brightly.

He thinks it's odd sometimes, how happy he is. After all, he's dead. And he died very young. But he's not sad. Or bitter. Just happy.

And when Rouge hugs him or Roger grins at him or when Ace and Luffy talk to him like he's right there even though they can't see him, he doesn't find it so odd anymore.

* * *

Sabo sighs as he leans against the rail of the ship next to Ace.

It's one of those times where he wishes he had a body. Because Ace really needs to be hit.

Roger had laughed like a loon when they found out that the Demon was going after Whitebeard. Rouge just gave a resigned sigh, but there was an amused gleam in her eyes that she couldn't quite hide. Sabo is pretty sure his parents are crazy. Then again, he is to, so he has no room to talk.

He just wishes he could snap Ace out of his trance. At this rate the Demon is going to go crazy. He can see the way tension rolls off his brother in waves, the way the wild gleam in his eyes seems to grow every day. He's reaching his limit. And Sabo doesn't know what to do.

When Marco walks over and tries to talk to Ace, he sees an opportunity. The blond pirate has tried numerous times to approach the Demon only to be brushed aside each time. It's just like when Ace first met him. When Ace first met Luffy. Ace isn't good with new people. Never has been. Especially when he sees them as a threat. But Sabo can tell that these pirates are good people, that they can help Ace.

So when Marco asks what's wrong Sabo leans over and whispers in his ear.

"Tell him."

And Ace does. He looks so surprised by the words that seem to have slipped from his mouth of their own accord that Sabo wants to laugh. But then Ace curls in on himself and Sabo can see him fighting for control, desperately clinging to the frayed edges of his conscious mind. Marco looks worried and starts to panic a little when Ace bites his own arm hard enough to draw blood. Sabo kneels next to his brother and calmly tells him to breathe.

Slowly, the Demon comes back to himself and lets Marco look at his arm, though he refuses to look at him.

Sabo sighs and gently nudges his shoulder. "Tell him," he whispers.

And Ace does.

* * *

"Sabo!" Luffy yells to the sky, both arms raised into the air, "Look at me! I'm setting out to sea too!"

Sabo chuckles from his place in the small rowboat that his little brother has decided to start out in. "Yes, yes, I see you," he says with a grin, well aware that Luffy can't hear him. But the Angel's excitement is contagious.

Luffy grins, placing a hand on the hat resting on his head. "You were first, Sabo. Ace was second. I'm the third to go, but I won't lose! Wait for me, Ace! I'll catch up to you soon!"

The soul of his older brother is grinning widely, his own excitement curling in his stomach as the townsfolk ask what the heck Luffy is yelling and muttering about. There's this feeling in the air, one that wasn't there before today. It's almost as if the world is quivering with anticipation, like Luffy is what it's been waiting for.

"It's a challenge!" Luffy says to the townspeople, grinning that wide, determined grin of his. That one that Sabo thinks looks just like Roger's.

He watches as the Angel takes out the Lord of the Coast with one punch, avenging Shanks arm. When Luffy turns, his eyes are silver and he's looking directly at Sabo. "I can do it," he says, "I _will_ do it."

And Sabo grins.

Because he knows it's true.

* * *

"Luffy, your navigator's mom is batshit insane," Sabo says dryly.

Kuina giggles somewhere behind him, while Bellemere just gives him a coy look. Their three charges are milling around their small boats, oblivious to their presence.

"What's the matter, Blondie?" the former marine asks, "Don't know how to handle a woman?"

Sabo snorts. "If you think any woman could possibly be crazier than this idiot, you've got another thing coming, lady."

"He is a little…odd," Kuina cuts in.

The blond rolls his eyes and puts his hands behind his head casually. "You don't know that half of it," he says to her before turning back to Bellemere. "I just hope your daughter knows what she's getting herself into."

Bellemere huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Nami can take care of herself."

"Not arguing that," Sabo placates, "But she thinks this is temporary. Luffy's already got his hooks in her whether she knows it or not; he's not going to just let her leave."

The woman sighs. "Look, kid. Nami's a drifter. She's given herself a job, and if she has to leave your brother to finish it she will."

Sabo just shrugs. "Luffy'll go after her and drag her back."

"He's already made a decision, Bellemere-san," Kuina says, swinging her feet back and forth from where she's perched on the rail next to a napping Zoro, "I haven't known Luffy-san for very long, but he's a lot like Zoro; once he's decided something, it's going to happen."

Bellemere hums thoughtfully before a grin forms on her lips. "Hmmmm, looks like my little girl will have to deal with pirates."

Sabo barks a laugh. "Not just deal with them, she's going to become one of them."

The woman just grins. "We'll see."

"I can't wait until Lu turns everything you guys know upside down," Sabo sighs.

Bellemere frowns a bit at that and a look of confusion enters her eyes. "Why do you talk about him like he's so special?" she wonders aloud. Kuina turns to Sabo as well, a similar expression on her face.

Sabo just blinks. "Because he is," he says simply. His answer doesn't seem to satisfy either of them as the pair just look at him, so when a spark of inspiration hits him, he grins. "Here," he says, taking Bellemere's wrist and guiding her over to where Luffy is sitting at the head of the ship, watching the waves.

Sabo makes to place her hand on the back of his little brother's neck, but Bellemere resists his hold. "What are you doing? The living can't feel us; I'll just go through him."

The blond just grins at her. "Relax," he says, "I'm just introducing you."

And with that, he tugs her forward and Bellemere's eyes go wide when her hand connects with the solid, warm flesh of Luffy's neck. The Angel tenses and straightens up; Sabo knows that he does not recognize this touch, so he weaves his fingers through Bellemere's and the tension drains from his brother's body. Kuina is watching them with wide eyes while Bellemere's mouth tries to form words.

"I…can feel him," she says, voice heavy with shock, "He can feel _me_."

She turns wide eyes to Sabo, looking for some kind of answer, but Sabo just grins.

"Hey, Lu," he says as if having a normal conversation, he knows that Luffy cannot hear him, but he knows the Angel will still understand his meaning, "This is Bellemere, she's Nami's mom. Through bond and no blood; bit like us. She's not so sure about leaving Nami with you, but I know you'll take care of her. Just be careful, yeah? Even I can see her wound runs deep."

With that, Sabo pulls their hands away. Bellemere and Kuina watch in shock as Luffy turns to look directly at Nami, face blank. The orange haired girl is standing at the prow of the other boat, looking out at the sea. Her face is pulled into a slight frown, though it morphs into a look of confusion and slight annoyance when she notices Luffy staring.

"What?" she asks.

Luffy doesn't say anything for a moment, just stares at her with those dark eyes of his before suddenly grinning. "Nothing," he chirps and Nami huffs, "I just think you should smile more."

Nami blinks at that. "Huh?"

"You look pretty when you smile," the Angel says, "Besides, the more you smile, the more good things happen!"

Nami's eyes go wide at that and Bellemere is left blinking as Luffy turns to look back at the sea.

"What just happened?" she asks, dazed.

"You met the man who's going to become the Pirate King," Sabo answers with a grin, turning to Kuina and holds out a hand to her, "Your turn."

The girl jumps off her perch and eagerly walks up to him, slipping her hand into his. Sabo places their hands on Luffy's back and the young captain tenses briefly in acknowledgement.

"This is Kuina, Luffy. She a friend of Zoro's. She's like me; we died before we could fulfill our dreams, but we have others that have promised to fulfill theirs for us."

Luffy turns to look over his shoulder at Zoro's sleeping form, eyes lingering on the white blade held securely in the swordsman's grip. He grins, bright and wide, and the girls watch as his eyes flash silver, briefly lingering on the three souls, before turning back to the sea.

"I'm glad, Sabo," he says, softly, so only they can hear him, "You're not lonely, that's good."

Sabo chuckles as he removes their hands from his back. "Don't worry, bro, I'm fine.

Luffy just giggles to himself and falls silent.

Sabo turns to his companions with a bright grin. Bellemere and Kuina trade looks before grinning themselves.

"Looks like this little adventure just got a lot more interesting," Bellemere says with a chuckle.

* * *

He watches with mixed sadness and suppressed rage as Ace reacts to Thatch's death. To his murder.

The Demon has lost another person close to his heart; one of the first of his new family that he let in. Sabo can see how it breaks him, how he shoves it away in a dark corner and takes off after the traitor. He lets Ace be; there will be no reaching him right now, no consoling him. But there is something else he can do for Ace.

It isn't that hard for him; locating a soul if fairly easy. Especially when they're new.

Sabo waits, looking down at the man that has become one of Ace's nakama. One of his family. Sabo owes him. The man was relentless when Ace was avoiding the entire crew. But he didn't let it deter him in any way. He had become one of those that he could check on anytime he wished; he had bonded with Ace.

He grins, it's a sad grin, but a grin none the less. "He really loves you, Thatch."

The man stirs and Sabo finds himself wondering if this is what it was like for Rouge when she waited with him.

Thatch opens his eyes, blinking a little at the sudden light. He lays there for a minute, trying to process what happened. He remembers being on watch and then Teach…ah. Teach. That's right.

"Huh," he says aloud. "So I guess I'm dead. That or this is a really weird dream."

"Unfortunately, it's the first one, my friend."

Thatch turns and sees a young man sitting next to him. He looks to be about Ace's age with a strong build. He's wearing blue shorts, a white shirt, dark blue jacket, and a pair of boots. A top hat covers short blond hair.

"So is this the afterlife?"

The blond grins and Thatch sees the gap in his teeth. "Something like that," he says, casually bringing his arms behind his head, "You're lucky you formed a bond with my brother, or else you'd be a lot harder to find in this place."

Thatch blinks. "Brother?"

Sabo laughs at Thatch's confusion. "Sorry, sorry," he says, "I got a bit ahead myself there."

"You do that often, dear."

Sabo turns to see Rouge walking over to them. "Mom! I do not!"

Rouge laughs at him. "Relax, sweetheart. It's a family trait."

Sabo crosses his arms over his chest and pouts like the child that he still very much is. Thatch watches them with a mildly amused expression.

"You're supposed to introduce yourself first, dear," Rouge says.

Sabo frowns. "You didn't."

She smiles. "Fair enough." She turns to Thatch. "Pardon us, it's a bit of a long standing argument."

Thatch grins. "I can see that."

"This is Sabo, you'll have to excuse him. It's the first time he's ever greeted anyone."

"It's not like you gave me your name!" Sabo protests, "I had to ask for it!"

"Speaking of," she says, "My name is Portgas D. Rouge."

Thatch's amusement is suddenly replaced with shock. "Portgas? As in…?"

Rouge smiles. "Thank you for taking care of Ace for me," she says.

Sabo snorts. "Even though he makes it so freaking hard. Do you have any idea how much I have to guide him?" he whines.

Thatch grins a bit at that. "That he does. But he's worth the effort."

Sabo grins, wide and bright. "I knew I liked you for a reason."

Rouge just chuckles at them.

"So…you're Ace's family?" Thatch clarifies.

Sabo beams. "Yup! He's my brother. And, well, Mom is his mom."

"Well it's nice to meet you, I suppose," Thatch says with an easy grin, "But I thought Ace only had one brother?"

Sabo just grins as Rouge answers. "Ace lives in the present," she says, "He keeps the past locked inside."

"Besides," Sabo adds, "We died when he was really young, so he's had time to deal with it. He likes to dwell though."

Rouge sighs. "That's just the way he is."

"You mean stubborn?" Thatch asks with a raised eyebrow.

"He gets it from his father," Rouge says.

"He gets it from his mother too."

The three of them turn to see Roger walking towards them. Thatch grins. "Oh-ho! Well if it isn't Roger!"

Roger laughs. "Thought it'd be ages before I saw any of Whitebeard's men up here! But I guess that's how life goes! Full of surprises!"

"What're you doing here?" Sabo asks, "I thought you were partying with Tom?"

"And miss meeting my son's nakama? Not a chance!"

"You're being creepy again, Dad," Sabo deadpans," And it's not like he's going anywhere."

Rouge laughs at them and Thatch chuckles along before the earlier comment finally sinks into his brain. "Wait a minute!" he exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at an amused Roger, "You're Ace's dad? You had a kid?!"

"Bwhahahahahahaha! World works in funny ways doesn't it?" Roger says.

Thatch stares for a moment. "No wonder he's so messed up," he says dryly.

Sabo pats his shoulder. "If only you knew, my friend, if only you knew."

"Sabo, what about Ace?" Rouge asks softly, "…How did he react?"

That calms the laughter and leaves the four of them a little somber. Sabo sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "It wasn't…bad," he says after a moment, "He didn't…snap like he did when I died. But…I can't reach him right now."

"Hmmm, I suppose it's as good as can be expected," Rouge says.

Roger claps Thatch on the shoulder. "He really likes you, Thatchy-boy!"

Thatch sighs, expression guilty and a little sad. "It's not like I made a conscious decision to go and die."

"Meh," Sabo says, waving him off, "It's not that big a deal. Just means he's going to be a pain in the ass to babysit for a while."

"Such brotherly affection," Roger teases.

"Shut up, Dad," Sabo says before turning thoughtful, "Actually, Lu should be getting to the Grand Line soon. Maybe I can pull a few strings…"

"Luffy would do him some good," Rouge says softly.

Sabo sighs and falls back with a dull thud. "If I wasn't already dead, those two would be the death of me."

"What's family for, eh?" Thatch says with a grin. Roger laughs.

"Yeah, yeah," Sabo says pushing himself up, "If he does something stupid, I'm blaming you Thatch."

"Hey, Ace does what he wants, you should know that," the man defends.

Sabo crosses his arms. "But I can't hit Ace," he says blankly.

"I'm sure you could if you put your mind to it," Rouge says.

Roger barks a laugh. "Encouraging sibling violence now?"

Rouge shrugs and gives the men a coy smile. "Boys will be boys."

* * *

"This actually worked out quicker than I expected it to," Sabo says to Thatch as he watches Luffy tell his crew about Ace.

"Oh?"

Sabo just shrugs. He had figured out what route Luffy was taking and then followed the path to Ace. He left his brother a hint about where the Angel was heading and the Demon left a message in response. Of course Luffy never actually got that message, but they had ended up in the same place regardless.

Luck seems to be on their side as usual.

Sabo grins when Ace jumps aboard, taunting Luffy and then politely thanking the Angel's crew for taking care of him. The blond still can't believe that Ace asked Makino to teach him manners of all things, but it serves as a lesson that Luffy isn't the only one that can be unpredictable.

Thatch looks thoughtful as he watches the brothers interact. "Ace looks…different," he says.

Sabo blinks at that. "How so?" he asks.

"I don't know," Thatch replies with a shrug," He just seems…happier. Freer."

And Sabo grins then, like he knows something Thatch doesn't and it leaves the older man curious. Before he can ask though, the surprised gasps of Luffy's crew draw their attention. Thatch feels his jaw drop at the sight.

Luffy, Ace's precious, innocent little brother, is kissing his older brother square on the mouth.

Next to him, Sabo grins.

"Finally!" the blond shouts, throwing both hands in the air and laughing when he sees Thatch's stunned and confused expression. "You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this to happen. Years, Thatch, _years_. And Luffy kissed him first! Oh, Ace will never live this one down!"

And Thatch just shakes his head with a chuckle as he looks between Sabo and his living brothers; it's clearly a family thing.

* * *

"Hmmmmm, so who won the bet, Bellemere?" Kuina asks.

The former marine grins. "Looks like me an' Sabo won the pot!" she exclaims, turning to one of the newest members of their little ragtag group, "Sorry, Olvia!"

Sabo just rolls his eyes. "Honestly, was there ever any doubt?"

Olvia looks on at the event happening around them, both awed and confused. "I…I don't understand…"

Hiruluk laughs while throwing an arm over the pale-haired woman's shoulders. "My good woman, there is nothing to understand! It's all about having a dream and the ambition to reach out and grab it!"

"Oh, look at my baby! He's so brave," Banchina says, watching the crew, "But this is so dangerous! What if they get hurt? Or scared? What if they die? Oh, this is bad! I have to help my baby!"

Before the woman can work herself into a frenzy, Bellemere is there, soothing the woman. Sabo chuckles; their little group is just as odd and strange as Luffy's crew. A group of complete strangers, brought together by one person. It seems the Angel's influence extends beyond the physical. The blond looks up to the giant behind him, watching the scene play out in front of them.

"Saul, you okay up there?" he calls.

"Derishishishishi!" the giant laughs, eyes wet, "My little Robin's found her nakama!"

Below them, Robin screams out her wish to live. Sabo can see his brother's knowing smirk, the growing smiles on his little brother's nakama's faces, the determination that radiates off of them. And he knows that Luffy has already decided the outcome of this battle.

Robin will live.

They will take her back and nothing will stop them from doing so.

Olvia collapses to her knees next to him, tears flowing down her face. Sabo smiles kindly at her. "It's odd, isn't?" he says, drawing the attention of the group, "How people flock to him."

Tom takes a large swig from a bottle of sake that Sabo has no doubt the fishman swiped from Roger. "You're little brother certainly has a spark!" he exclaims, clapping the blond on the back, "He knows how to do it with a DON!"

"Tom-san! Are you going to start coming on adventures with us too?" Kuina asks.

Banchina claps, having gotten over her anxiety. "Oh, that would be lovely! Think of the fun we could have!"

"So my little rascal's gonna be part of the crew now?" Tom laughs, "What a grand idea!"

"I can see it now," Hiruluk says dramatically, "Grand adventures! A magnificent ship! An unbreakable crew! The very dreams of men!"

Bellemere laughs. "Don't forget the formidable foes!"

"The glorious battles! Derishishishi!" Saul throws in.

"The unbelievable victories!" Kuina cheers.

"And the island wide celebration afterwards," Olvia adds, wiping her tears, grinning brightly.

Sabo just smirks at all of them. "All just a day in the life of the Straw Hat crew, eh?"

All of them raise a fist in the air, grinning that contagious grin and laughing like loons. "Here, here!"

* * *

Sabo smiles down at the little girl before him. She looks a little younger than Kuina, her face still round and childish where the young swordswoman is slimmer with the very beginnings of age. Her eyes are pure black and her slivery-white hair cascades down her back like a waterfall of loose, wavy curls. A pair of gray ram's horns sit on her head.

"Hello, Merry," he says to her, holding out one of his hands, "My name is Sabo."

The girl blinks at the hand offered to her, not quite understanding why it's there but suddenly realizing that she has hands too and can, for the first time, return the gesture. She slides a small, slender hand into his and her eyes go wide, a spark of excitement entering her eyes as she grins at him.

"I know you!" she says gleefully, "I've carried you! You're Captain's brother!"

Sabo grins and pulls the ship-turned-little-girl to her feet. "That's right! And I need to thank you for taking such good care of him," he says with a tip of his hat.

Merry blushes and fiddles with her hair, shyly scuffing her foot back and forth. "Oh, well, I didn't do much of anything…"

"Nonsense," Sabo says, "You took care of them and they are very thankful." Merry grins up at him, a pleased blush covering her cheeks. "Do you want to meet everyone?" he asks.

Merry nods. "Yes, please!"

"You're still part of the crew, Merry. Nakama are forever, you know."

"And I can watch over Captain and the others from here!"

Sabo grins down at her and she smiles back. "That's right," he says, tightening his hold on her hand reassuringly before leading her forward, "Now, we have a party to go to! Robin is safe and sound and we're getting a new nakama soon!"

Merry skips along next to him, swinging their hands back and forth, and cheers.

* * *

"Goddamnit, Ace! You just had to let your temper get the better of you! Arugh! You always think with you anger! Would it kill you to use your head once in a while?!" Sabo rages at his brother.

His brother who has lost. His brother who is beaten. His brother who is chained and bound, beaten and bloody. His brother who is in a cage. His brother who is ready to die.

Sabo deflates and fall to his knees in front of Ace's still form. The Demon's eyes are closed, his breathing shallow. If Sabo didn't know any better, he'd say the man was asleep. But Sabo does know better and he sees the lines of tension that run under Ace's skin. The blond sighs and reaches out to cup a bloody check. The Demon stiffens before all of the tension drains out of his body and he leans into the touch.

"Sorry," Ace whispers, his voice hoarse and cracked.

Sabo bites his lips. He can't say anything, any words he can think of are lodged in his throat and refuse to make it to his tongue. Fear bubbles up in his stomach. Sabo knows what will happen when Ace leaves this place. And Ace has already accepted it. And who knows what the hell Luffy's thinking, or if he even knows; Sabo has been too scared to leave to check on his other brother. Something might happen to Ace if he leaves. He can't bear the thought. So he makes himself watch as Ace is tortured for the sick enjoyment of the guards in this godforsaken prison, because really, they have no reason to do so; Ace has already been sentenced, and the guards are not trying to get information. And when they finish and drag Ace back to his cell and shackle him to the wall, Sabo kneels next to him and makes sure that Ace is still breathing. That he keeps breathing.

Because despite the sickening fear and worry that is tearing his insides to shreds, he knows there is still a sliver of hope. Whitebeard won't just let one of his son's die. And if Luffy has found out, Sabo has no doubt that the Angel will do everything in his power to stop it.

So he stays with Ace, watches over him as he sleeps in hell and makes sure he keeps breathing.

Because Ace deserves to live.

Because Ace will live.

And Sabo just needs to believe it.

* * *

When Whitebeard opens his eyes, he's met with the sight of his late son and rival grinning at him.

"Hiya, Oyaji!" Thatch chirps with a wave.

Roger just laughs. "So you finally kicked the bucket, eh old man?"

Whitebeard sits up with a snort. "It's you and your lots fault in the first place," he grunts, "And it was a pretty damn good death too! Better than dying in my sleep in some bed."

"Bwhahahaha! You were getting there, weren't you!"

Thatch chuckles and shakes his head. "I've had to deal with him for the past few months," he complains to his captain, "I don't know how you dealt with him."

"Gurarararara! Years of practice, lad!"

Roger grins. "Come have a drink, Whitebeard! You can tell me about my son!"

"That brat? He's a handful. Takes a bit after you, ya know. Never runs from a fight. Gets him in trouble too."

"He knows," Thatch says dryly, "I've made sure to tell him."

Both captains laugh at him. Before anything else can be said or any drinks can be found, an enraged, heartbroken scream echoes from the trees behind them. Roger sighs, his smile fading some. "Suppose I should go take care of that first."

Thatch stares at the tree line, stunned. "Was that…Sabo?"

Whitebeard looks on curiously and follows the two toward the sound. "Sabo?" he asks.

"Ace's brother," Thatch answers, "Apparently, he had another one. Died when Ace was real young though."

When they reach the end of the clearing, little Merry is there, shifting nervously, eyes wide with worry. The clearing is a complete mess, especially considering it didn't used to be a clearing. Trees have been knocked to the ground, ripped out at the roots, leaving crater sized holes. Merry turns at the sound of their approach and the three can see that she's been crying. She surges forward and latches onto Roger's hand.

"Roger," she says and she's trembling, voice creaking with worry as crystalline tears slide down her cheeks, "C-Captain…Captain and Ace…! And now Sabo!"

Roger reaches out and ruffles the little girl's hair. "I know," he says, "It'll be okay."

Merry lets him go and rings hands together, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay," she says, "Okay." She turns and sees the other two and offers them a small smile. "Hello, Thatch. Hello, Whitebeard-san."

"Hey, Merry," Thatch offers in greeting, turning to Whitebeard to say, "Oyaji, this is Merry. She was Straw Hat Luffy's first ship."

Whitebeard raises and eyebrow. "That brat? His ship you say?"

Merry nods. "I couldn't carry them anymore, so Captain saw me off."

"Well then," the giant man says, "It is nice to meet you, Merry."

The little girl grins up at him as Roger walks out into the clearing.

"Oi, Sabo!" he calls, "How long you gonna keep this temper-tantrum up?"

And Sabo is suddenly there, standing right in front of the former Pirate King, face a mask of anger and pain as tears slide down his face.

"Shut up!" He roars and Thatch stares, because he's never seen Sabo like this. The blond is always so calm and polite. But this. He seems broken. And with everything that's happened, he probably is. "How can you be so fucking calm?! That damn Admiral bastard almost killed Ace! Could have killed Ace! We don't even know if he's going to make it! And he took Luffy's wings! That bastard completely fried them! He'll be lucky if he can get them to move after this!"

"Battles come with wounds, Sabo," Roger says.

Sabo glares at him, mouth open, ready to yell and scream and shout and blame, when slender hands place themselves over his eyes from behind.

"That's enough, Sabo," Rouge says, "Don't blame Roger for this. It's not his fault. You know that. It's not his fault. It's not your fault. It's not Ace's fault. It's not Luffy's fault. Do you remember what Dadan told Ace when you died? It was the world that killed you. It's the state of the world that led to the tragedies of Marineford. Don't place blame in your grief."

And then Sabo collapses to his knees, a strangled scream of sorrow ripping itself from his throat as he's consumed by sobs, finally breaking down, releasing all of the built up anger and fear and frustration and pain that he's been locking away since Ace's defeat at Teach's hands. And suddenly he's his ten year old self again, his form tiny and breakable as he curls into the ground. Rouge scoops him up and cradles him in her arms, letting him bury his face in her neck as he screams.

Thatch stares at Sabo's new form, eyes wide. "What just happened?"

Roger glances over at him. "Hm? Oh. That. When you first arrive here, you are in the physical form you had when you died. But as this is a world based on thought, one can choose to change that form. Sabo chose to age with his brothers."

"Wait. So you're saying when Sabo died, he was…?

"A ten year old? Yes." Roger looks at Thatch with a grim grin and Whitebeard gives a knowing sigh. "The world is a cruel place, Thatchy-boy."

Rouge sighs as Sabo's cries finally slow to a stop. "I shouldn't have let him," she says softly, eyes wet, "I should have made him leave."

"What's that Rouge?" Roger asks.

"Sabo stayed with Ace after that bad man captured him," Merry says quietly, "He asked me to keep an eye on Captain 'cause he didn't want to leave Ace."

Rouge's lips tremble as she runs a hand through her son's blond curls. "He said he had to make sure Ace kept breathing," she whispers, eyes overflowing, "He stayed with my baby in that awful, godforsaken place! I shouldn't have let him, he's just a child! I should have taken his place! Oh, my poor children!" She holds the boy in her arms tighter and Roger carefully wraps his arms around both of them.

"He stayed with Ace?" Thatch says. "That means…"

"That he saw everything that was done to him in that hellhole," Whitebeard finishes grimly, looking down at the child in Rogue's arms.

Everything is silent for a long moment before Whitebeard speaks. "You lot are depressing," the former Yonko says, "They ain't dead so stop sulking!"

That startles a laugh from Rouge and Roger is already grinning. A little sigh from Rouge's shoulder lets them know that Sabo is, in fact, awake.

"Yeah, yeah," he says, his voice higher in pitch now, the voice of a child, "You lot can go be happy and what not, I'll just get stuck dealing with two depressed idiots."

Roger laughs and claps the boy on the back. "That's the spirit, son!"

"Dad, you're an idiot," Sabo deadpans, raising his head from Rouge's neck, "What the hell do you mean spirit? Ace is gonna be all screwed up because his dad went and died," he says gesturing at Whitebeard, "And then Lu's gonna be all screwed up because he probably thinks Ace went and died on him after that idiot promised him not to! What kind of moron promises not to die?!"

"Your brothers," Rogue and Roger deadpan.

Sabo groans. "You're all insane."

"But that's what makes Captain interesting, Sabo!" Merry pipes up.

Thatch grins. "Normal is boring. But you knew that already."

Whitebeard just laughs.

Sabo sighs. "The things I do for my family."

* * *

"Sabo!"

Said blond, now a young man again, turns away from Rouge and Thatch, to see Kuina running towards him, Olvia and Yorki walking behind her. Roger and Whitebeard are either too caught up in their reminiscing or ignoring the new arrivals.

Kuina skids to a stop in front of him, panting a huge grin on her face. "You'll never guess!" she says.

Sabo blinks for a moment before sighing. "What did Luffy do this time?"

Yorki grins, clapping him on the shoulder. "That brother of yours! Man! I like his style! I wish I could have seen the Marine's faces!" he laughs.

Kuina is practically bouncing in place as Olvia sits down across from him, Rouge and Thatch showing the same confusion he is. Olvia hands him a newspaper – or at least a copy of one that she probably made – with a grin.

"This should explain things," she says.

Sabo raises an eyebrow and takes the offered paper, Rouge and Thatch leaning over his shoulders to see what all the fuss is about. The blond's grin grows wider with every word and by the end of the article, he's laughing like a madman. Rouge and Thatch are grinning on either side of him, the other three matching those grins.

"Oi, Dad! Whitebeard!" Sabo calls, tossing them the paper.

Soon enough, Roger is laughing too and Whitebeard's smirking at the paper in his hand.

"That cheeky little brat," he says.

Sabo grins. "The best part is that the Marines have no clue what he's doing!"

"Eh? What do you mean, Sabo?" Thatch asks.

Yorki laughs. "My good man, I haven't been with the crew very long and even I know that this is out of character for the kid."

"It's a message," Olvia says calmly.

"Yeah! The crew is going to train for two years before heading to New World!" Kuina adds.

"While at the same time giving the Marines a good kick in the face," Roger adds gleefully, "Oh Ray, you sly old dog, you. I'd recognize your work anywhere," he says, throwing his head back and laughing.

"Rayleigh, huh?" Whitebeard says with a grin, "Seems like everyone's putting their money on this kid to be your successor, Roger."

The former Pirate King just grins that wide grin of his. "It's the damnedest thing, isn't it?"

"It's not like he needs anyone's approval," Sabo says.

Yorki snorts. "Kid'd probably just do it anyway."

Olvia and Kuina smile at him and Sabo shoots him a daring grin. "Yorki," he says, "You're going to fit in just fine."

"And in all of the excitement," Rouge says softly, having picked up the paper when no one was looking, deep brown eyes looking lovingly at the picture of the straw hat wearing teen she considers her third son, "A new age begins."

* * *

Sabo watches his brothers as they fly through the air, chasing each other and laughing like children. He grins, a weight leaving him now that the two have finally seen each other again. Now that they know the other is still alive, still safe, still in one piece. He laughs at Ace's nakama when they don't know how to deal with the pair. Luffy's nakama have, by this point, become accustomed to their captain's strange ways and while they are still surprised from time to time, it's easier for them to shrug it off and face whatever it is with a resigned acceptance. Because Luffy always gets his way. Unfortunately, the only exposure Ace's nakama have had to the rubber teen was back during the War. Which means they were somewhat distracted by other things to notice any of Luffy's oddities besides his sheer determination and will power.

So Sabo gets a good kick out of watching them gape like fish and listens half-heartedly as both crews trade stories while the Angel and Demon circle above them. When his brothers return to the ship and collapse on the figurehead, breathless with laughter, he smiles at the happiness that radiates off them. He sits with them, content; it's been a while since the three of them have been in the same place, so to speak.

"Ne, Ace?" Luffy says softly, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Sabo is happy right now?" The Angel reaches a hand out, fingers straining towards the first stars of night.

Sabo grins softly. He's noticed how often Luffy asks Ace that question. Noticed Ace's hesitance to give a real answer out of fear he might be wrong. And Sabo knows that this is because of his death, because of the choice he made to return to his noble parents and leave them behind. That choice and the results of that choice have left his brothers scarred. And he knows it.

But, this time, Ace smiles at the question. A soft, loving smile, one that rarely shows on his face and when it does, it's usually for Luffy. "I think so," he says quietly, raising his hand as well, "We're happy. I think that makes Sabo happy. Right, Sabo?"

Sabo's grin widens and he slips his hands into his brothers', giving each a warm, reassuring squeeze. Their fingers close around his, squeezing back, before the moment is gone and they are separated again. Both the Angel and Demon smile.

"Yeah," Ace says, "He's definitely happy."

And Sabo grins.

Because he really is.

* * *

**So.**

**Chapter ten everyone. Thoughts? Was it good, bad? Is everyone okay with me posing a chapter about Sabo? Because I kinda like it. I mean it's Sabo. I love Sabo.  
**

**Anywho, I should probably go write that research paper now.  
**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	11. Braid

_****_**Hello, my lovelies!  
**

**I know it's been a little while and I apologize for that. Thanksgiving break ended and as soon as we came back, everyone pretty much entered 'OMFG FINALS' mode. Needless to say, it's been a bit of a rough month. But! Finals are done now and my semester is officially over. So, I figure it's the perfect time to update. To be honest I have been writing off and on for the entire month, so I do actually have things to post!  
**

**And holy fudge is it a lot of stuff. Prepare for a binge update, guys! To those of you who have my on author alert, I apologize in advance. To those of you who do not, and will therefore not receive and email notice of this, I have an announcement!  
**

**_PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:_**From this point onward, I will NOT be posting anymore Wild!AU chapters in _The Deepest of Ties_. From now on, Wild!AU will be posted in it's own, SEPARATE story. So if you are interested, please go to my profile to find the story. It will still be titled _Wild_ and I will be publishing it as soon as I finish posting this chapter and it will contain and update, so if you are interested, I encourage you to go read it because I will not be posting it here. I will also be posting two new One Piece stories as part of this binge update so feel free to check those out as well (Shameless self-advertising~).**  
**

**Now.  
**

**On to other things.  
**

**This chapter was no pre-planned in anyway at all. It literally just popped into my head and I wrote it. It focuses on Luffy and his cuteness, so no Ace. Sorry. The first part takes place sometime while Vivi is on the ship (because I wanted to write her) and the second is sometime after Fishman Island (You can decide when). It's basically just a little headcanon chapter.  
**

**Characters: Luffy, Vivi, Nami, Robin, Sanji, mentions of Makino (because I love her)  
Warnings: fluff of epicly poofy proportions, Luffy being perfectly adorable, Sanji being Sanji about women  
**

**Disclaimer: I live through finals...I think I'm just going to sleep now...after I update everything...I hope you people appreciate this (I kid, I kid, I love all of you.)  
**

**ONWARD!  
**

* * *

_**~ Braid ~**_

_In which the crew finds out how Luffy was taught to tie knots._

* * *

Vivi is sitting on the rear deck, leaning on the railing and watching the sea, when Luffy appears out of no where and plops down next to her. The princess startles, hand flying to her chest as she just barely manages to swallow back her scream of surprise.

"Luffy-san! You scared me!"

Luffy just chuckles and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Shishishishi! Sorry, Vivi!"

"It's fine," she says, "Was there something you wanted?"

Luffy doesn't say anything for a moment, just stares at her, expression blank. Vivi fights the urge to look away; Luffy's gaze can be extremely unnerving, almost like he's looking at you're very soul. He doesn't seem to realize it though and it never lasts long, but it still leaves an impression. It's uncomfortable in a sense, like he can see everything and nothing is hidden and that kind of exposure is scary even to the bravest of spirits. But at the same time, it's warm. Safe.

The princess is snapped from her thoughts when Luffy reaches out and gently takes a strand of her hair between his fingers. He stares at it for a moment before looking up at her. "You have long hair," he says bluntly.

Vivi blinks and raises an eyebrow. "Yes…?"

"Can I braid it?"

And Vivi stares because she was not expecting that at all. But Luffy is looking at her earnestly and she realizes that he really does want to. "Why?" she can't help but ask.

"Nami's hair is too short," he states matter of factly.

"Oh," she replies dumbly.

"So can I?"

"Uh, sure?"

Luffy grins and moves so he's behind her and with surprising gentleness, cards his fingers through her hair, dividing it carefully into sections. They sit in silence for a while, Vivi watching the sea and Luffy braiding her hair. It's actually very relaxing and it makes Vivi curious.

"Where did you learn to braid hair, Luffy-san?" she asks.

"Hmm? Oh, well sailors are supposed to know how to braid ropes together and make knots and stuff, right?" Vivi makes a noise of agreement. "Well, when I was little, I already knew that I wanted to sail on the sea, and I wanted to learn. But the docksmen wouldn't teach me cause I was so little and they wouldn't let me have any materials to practice on either. So Makino let me practice on her hair. She had really long hair before she cut it when I was seven."

"Makino?"

"Mmm. She owned a tavern in the village I grew up in. She looked after me a lot when I was little."

Vivi smiles at that. "So you like braiding hair?"

"Yeah!" he says, and she can hear the smile in his voice, "I wasn't very good at it at first. Braiding was really hard! But Makino never got mad when I messed up her hair."

"But you're better now, right?" she asks, unable to hid the tone of worry creeping into her voice.

Luffy laughs. "Yeah, I got better. Makino let me do her hair in the morning and let me practice whenever I felt like it. She really seemed to like when I did her hair. Don't know why though."

Vivi hums softly at the feel of his fingers in her hair. "It's because it feels good," she says.

"Huh?"

She lets out a small giggle at his confusion. "Has anyone ever run their fingers through your hair? Or just play with it?"

"Yeah…" he says slowly.

"And how did it feel?"

"Nice," he says simply, "It made me sleepy."

"When you braid hair it feels like that," Vivi states.

"Oh."

Vivi smiles as they lapse into silence again and she relaxes, letting her mind wonder. She isn't sure how much time has passed but she's pulled back to reality when Luffy removes his hands from her hair.

"Done!" he chirps.

She automatically brings a hand to hair and is surprised by the intricate patterns she feels. Luffy grins and pulls her over to the nearest porthole so that she can look at her reflection. Her top layer of hair has been braided around her head in a crown and then pulled into a delicate knot at the base of her neck like a ponytail held in place by a series of thin braids that look almost like a net. Vivi is impressed.

"Luffy-san, this is amazing!"

The young captain just laughs. "Thanks for letting me practice," he says with a grin, "I haven't been able to since I left home."

Vivi returns his smile. "I'm glad I could help."

* * *

Nami is annoyed. Luffy has been staring at her, or more specifically, her hair, for what seems like hours. He has been unusually silent, sitting on the rail, just watching her. She and Robin are out on the deck, reclining in law chairs, Robin reading a novel, Nami reading the paper. It takes her a few minutes to notice her captain's stare, but when she does the frustration is quick to build.

"Luffy!" she finally snaps.

The rubber man blinks. "Yeah?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Huh?" he says, tilting his head to the side, confusion clear on his face. Nami hears Robin giggle softly next to her. "I was staring?"

"Yes!" Nami exclaims, exasperated.

"Oh," is the short response, "I was just thinking that your hair got really long."

Now it's Nami's turn to look confused, her annoyance melting away to curiosity. "So?"

Luffy just shrugs, an easy grin on his lips. "Nothing. It looks pretty."

Nami blinks. "Uh…thanks," she says slowly, not quite sure what to make of the situation. Luffy has never complemented anyone of their looks in terms of beauty. And yet her he is telling her her hair is pretty. She isn't really sure how she's supposed to react.

"Can I braid it?"

Luffy's sudden question snaps her from her thoughts. Her brow furrows. "Braid it?" she asks.

"Mm. Your hair. Can I braid it?" Luffy asks again, that same easy grin never once leaving his face.

Nami exchanges looks with Robin, who looks equal parts amused and intrigued. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Nami remembers a conversation she had with Vivi during her stay on the ship all that time ago. One day, her hair had been beautifully done and all she would say about it was that their captain was far more gifted than he let on. After a moment of thought, Nami scoots forward in her chair and gives a short nod.

"Alright," she says, "But if you mess up my hair, I'm throwing you overboard."

Luffy beams. "Okay!" he says, bounding across the deck and sliding in place behind her.

Carefully, as he has so many times before, he separates the hair into sections, fingers surprisingly nimble. Nami finds herself relaxing under his hands and Robin watches with curiosity, her book laying forgotten in her lap. They stay like that for a while, Luffy braiding in an almost trance-like state, Nami relaxing and reading her paper, and Robin watching them both with a small, curious smile.

"Where did you learn to braid, Luffy?" Robin asks eventually.

Luffy blinks, turning to Robin briefly before answering with a small smile. "Makino," he says.

Robin just grins, remembering that night in the crow's nest and the dance that had been shared, and picks up her book to continue reading.

"Who's Makino?" Nami asks. Because she has not heard any stories and therefore does not know.

"Makino owned a tavern on the island I grew up on," the Angel answers matter of factly.

Nami raises an eyebrow. "And she taught you to braid hair?"

"Mm! A sailor needs to know how to braid ropes and stuff so Makino let me practice on her hair," the captain says with a grin, fingers moving absently as he talks, "She used to have _really_ long hair, all the way down to her waist!"

Nami can't help the smile that spreads across her lips and Robin chuckles softly. Luffy is always animated when he speaks, but this time, there's a certain softness with it. Something that comes from home.

The moment doesn't last long, however when Sanji come out on deck carrying drinks that he's made especially for his Nami-swan and Robin-chwan.

"Naaaaaaaami-swan~! Roooooobin-chwan~!" he calls, twirling while carrying a tray in his hand and somehow not managing to spill a single drop, "I've made you some – LUFFY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO NAMI-SWAN, YOU SHITTY CAPTAIN?!"

Robin's hands sprout from the deck and catch Sanji's ankles before he can attempt to kick the rubber man, who just stares at his fuming cook blankly, fingers moving steadily all the while.

"I'm braiding Nami's hair," he says simply.

Nami sighs. "Honestly, Sanji-kun, he's not doing anything wrong. He asked and I gave him permission."

"I would braid Nami-swan's hair everyday if she so desired!" Sanji exclaims, hearts in his eyes.

"Yes, yes," she says dismissively, "I'm sure you would."

Robin covers her mouth with her hand in an attempt to muffle her delicate laughter. All the while, Luffy keeps braiding. When he reaches the end he frowns a bit and leans over Nami's shoulder, cutting across Sanji's flirting.

"Na, Nami, do you have a hair tie?"

"Hm? Oh. Of course," she says, slipping the tie off her wrist and handing it over her shoulder.

Luffy takes it with a grin. "Shishishi! Thanks, Nami!" He ties off the braid and sits back to examine his work. Nami's hair has been done up neatly in a simple fishtail braid. Upon closer inspection, however, it's clear that a few of the strands making up the braid have been braided themselves.

Nami's hands trail over her hair, gently fingering the braid. Sanji is bending over to look at it. Both look impressed.

"This is incredible, Luffy," Nami says, amazed.

"Nami-swan looks so pretty with her hair in a braid," Sanji gushes.

Luffy just smiles and turns to look at Robin. The older woman scoots forward on her lawn chair with a chuckle. The Angel beams at his archeologist and takes the silent invitation, slipping into the lawn chair behind her.

"So Makino taught you how to braid?" Robin asks, picking up the previous conversation thread as Luffy starts combing his fingers through her dark hair.

"Yeah! She kept it long for a while, but then cut it when I turned seven cause it kept getting in the way," he says, "It was too short to braid then, but Makino still looked pretty. She's even prettier than Robin and Nami!"

"Oi!" Sanji exclaims, frowning, "Nami-swan and Robin-chwan are perfect angels! They are beautiful!"

Nami sighs and rolls her eyes while Robin just smiles.

Luffy blinks. "Well of course they are," he says, surprising them, "Nami is prettiest when she smiles, cause happiness looks best on her. And Robin is prettiest when she talks about history and stuff, cause it makes her look _alive_, ya know?" And Robin is surprised to find herself blinking in shock and fighting the slight flush rising in her cheeks at the sincerity in her captain's voice. Nami is staring at Luffy, cheeks red, and Sanji has been stunned into silence, surprised that his idiot of a captain can complement a woman so thoroughly without even trying. "But Makino is still prettier because she's Makino," Luffy continues.

"And why is that?" Robin asks when it appears the other two are still trying to recover from his earlier comment.

"Hmm?" Luffy tilts his head to the side, hands stilling for a moment as his eyes cloud over in thought. "Makino is pretty because…because she's warm," he decides, lips spreading into a nostalgic grin. It is by far one of the softest, gentlest expressions they've ever seen on his face before. "She's like a light in the dark, ya know? Gramps wasn't around a lot when I was little causea marine stuff, but Makino was always there when I needed her. Gramps was all I had when I was little; I didn't have any parents. But I think Makino is what a mom is like. Or maybe a big sister. She's that kinda warm."

And they smile then, finally understanding just who this woman is to their captain.

"She sounds like a lovely woman," Sanji says with a small smile, taking a drag of his cigarette.

Luffy giggles. "Shishishi! Yeah! She let me eat in her tavern all the time! Her cooking isn't as good as Sanji's, but it's still really good!" He pauses, as he just remembered something and looks over to Nami. "Oh yeah! Nami! We need to set aside some treasure for Makino!"

Nami blinks at the sudden exclamation. "Huh? Why?"

"Cause I promised Makino I would pay her back for all the meals she fed me when I became a pirate and got lots of treasure!" the rubber teen exclaims.

"Oh? Does this mean we're going to meet her at some point?" Robin asks.

"Yeah! She'd love to meet all of you!" Luffy says, resuming braiding Robin's hair.

The young captain then proceeds to tell them exactly how Makino will greet all of them. At some point, the rest of the crew wanders over and they all listen to their captain tell stories about one of the woman who helped raise the future Pirate King.

**So there you have it. Nice little fluffy thing about Luffy. I seriously cannot even remember how I thought of this. But I hope you like it! Thoughts?**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	12. Birthday

_****_**Happy New Year, everyone!  
**

**So this isn't exactly the AceLu I promised, but that was put on hold because it's Ace's birthday. The AceLu chapter will be next time. This chapter takes place during Ace's first birthday after he's left Dawn Island. We're assuming that Ace is already a Whitebeard pirate. Because I say so.  
**

**Characters: Ace, Marco, Thatch  
Warnings: Fluff, angst, Ace being Ace and what not  
**

**Disclaimer: My brain feels like it's going to explode...headaches suck.  
**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Birthday~**_

_For him it is a day to mourn. For others it is a day to celebrate._

* * *

Ace is acting strange.

And he knows it.

He sees the worried and curious looks his nakama are giving him.

He can't stop it though.

It's almost New Year's Day. The day of his birth. The day of his mother's death. He hates this day. Dreads it every year. Prays that it doesn't come. But it does. Every year. Just like clockwork. And this is the first year he will be spending this day on the sea. The first year this day has passed since he left Dawn Island. The first year in a long time that he will be spending this day without Luffy.

Ace isn't sure he'll be able to handle this day without him.

* * *

Marco and Thatch exchange looks as Ace climbs back aboard.

The Second Division Commander has been off for around the past two weeks. He's talking less and his smiles are forced. His appetite has shrunk to the point where his portion size is that of an average person, and even that seems to be a struggle for him to get down. They've tried talking about it, but every time they bring it up, he redirects the conversation or finds some excuse to leave. He's not necessarily isolating himself from the crew, but he's putting up walls. It's almost as if he's reverting to how he was when he first came aboard and was trying to take Whitebeard's life. His attitude isn't as cold or angry or distrustful as it was then, but he's become distant.

They've docked at a summer island, a deserted island, but its wild life is absolutely breathtaking. The crew has been spending the past few days exploring. Ace doesn't show his usual interest in new adventures and mischief to be found on new islands until Vista returns to the ship with a flower. A red hibiscus to be specific.

When Ace sees the flower, a strange expression crosses his face. He looks completely heartbroken, almost shattered by guilt, but at the same time, he's happy. There's a soft, almost loving, tenderness in his eyes as he looks at the flower. The teen asks Vista where he found it and when the man answers, Ace grabs his green and black zebra-striped bag and heads off.

Marco and Thatch briefly contemplate following him, but decide against it, choosing instead to wait for their friend's return.

Which he does, about three hours later.

When Ace climbs back onto the Moby Dick, he seems calmer than he has been for the last few weeks. The thing that catches the attention of the First and Fourth Division Commanders though, is the red hibiscus that Ace has tucked into his hair. His orange hat is dangling from his neck so that the flower is not crushed. The flower almost makes him look feminine, his features oddly softer with the flower in his hair.

The mere fact that it is there baffles Marco and Thatch. Ace has always teased Vista about his thing with roses, all in good fun of course, and called flowers in general "girl's things" almost as if it was some kind of engrained response. But…Ace looks oddly at ease with it there.

Ace gets comments on it of course. He just smiles and laughs them off, but it doesn't reach his eyes. His brown eyes, which are usually so alive with life are now dull, resigned.

As Ace heads below deck, Thatch turns to Marco.

"We need to do something," he says.

Marco raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"I don't know!" Thatch exclaims, throwing his hands up, "But it's New Year's Eve! We can't have Ace sulking around while the crew is partying!"

Marco sighs. While he agrees with his friend, he knows that his isn't just Ace being fickle. The teen is genuinely upset about something, and that something is rooted deep. "See if he can get over it first," he says, "He seemed, I don't know, content when he came back. If not, then we can try talking to him."

"I noticed that," Thatch mutters, "Fine. But he's gonna be happy by the end of tonight, damnit!"

Marco just rolls his eyes.

* * *

By the time the sun sets, the New Year's party is in full swing.

And Ace is no where to be seen.

Thatch and Marco look for him, combing the crowd multiple times for their young friend.

"He's not here," Thatch says as Marco walks up to him.

"Did he stay on the ship?" Marco asks with a glance at the Moby Dick.

Thatch shrugs and starts walking back to the ship. "Only one way to find out."

As the two commanders climb aboard the ship, it's quiet. Most of the crew, including Whitebeard, is on the beach, drinking and laughing about absolutely nothing and everything at the same time, so everything is still. Before either of them can start scouring the ship for the missing fire user, Thatch spots small, green lights floating toward the figurehead of the ship.

"Fireflies?" he asks softly, drawing Marco's attention.

When the Phoenix turns and sees the lights, he knows instantly what they are. He shakes his head. "No, that's Hotarubi," he says, seeing the recognition flash in Thatch's eyes.

The pair follow the small, glowing orbs to the figurehead and, sure enough, there's the missing commander.

Ace is sitting at the very edge, feet dangling off the ship. The red hibiscus is still in his hair and his green and black striped backpack is sitting next to him. As they approach, they notice that Ace has another of the red flowers in his hand, twirling it between his fingers, and that his bag is filled with them.

"Hey, guys," he greets without turning to them, "Finally come to track me down?"

They take that as an invitation and sit on either side of their friend. Now close to him, they could see the forlorn look on Ace's face. They have never seen the happy-go-lucky fire user look so…subdued. There is a weight on the teen's shoulders; a burden that he's carried for a long time.

Thatch nudges Ace with his shoulder. "What're you doing over here? You're missing all the fun! It's almost the new year!"

Ace just shrugs, avoiding Thatch's eyes. "I just don't like tomorrow that much," he says, clearly trying to be casual, but there is an obvious pain in his voice.

"And why's that?" Marco asks, his voice gentle and soft so that Ace knows he won't push.

The Second Division Commander's eyes flicker to him briefly before turning back to the flower he's twirling idly in his hand. His shoulders hike up a bit, almost defensively, and his back tenses. But then he relaxes, releasing a reluctant sigh.

"I…my mother, she…died on the first day of the new year," he says quietly, brown eyes sadder than they have ever seen them.

That sobers Thatch up in an instant and he places a hand on Ace's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ace. Wouldn't have pushed you so much these last few days if I knew."

Ace just shrugs, waving of his apology. "Doesn't matter. Like you said, you didn't know."

"Is that why you've been so closed off?" Marco asks.

Ace smirks slightly at that. "Oh, so you noticed?" Thatch snorts. "It just kind of happens every year. I can't really help it," the Demon sighs, tracing the edges of the flower's petals with his finger.

"What's up with the flowers?" Thatch asks, attempting to turn the conversation, "I thought they were "stupid" and "girly"?"

That actually startles a laugh out of Ace. "They are!" he exclaims with a sly grin, before it fades. "I always make an exception for these though," he says holding up the flower in his hand, "Red hibiscuses are special."

Thatch raises an eyebrow. "And why's that?"

Ace smiles a soft, sad smile then. "They're Mama's flower," he replies simply, "I've been told that she used to wear one in her hair every day."

"It that why you're wearing one?" Marco asks, eye the red flower in his friend's hair.

Ace hums. "Gramps says I look like her with it there. I have her eyes," he says and then quirks a grin, "And her freckles."

The older commanders chuckle slightly at that.

"What happened to her?" Thatch asks curiously.

Ace's face goes blank then, small grin sliding off his face and eyes becoming guarded. "I killed her."

Thatch's eyes go wide and his lips part slightly in surprise while Marco's blue eyes narrow in suspicion. "Ace," he calls softly.

The Demon looks down at his lap, refusing to meet his friends' eyes. "She died giving birth to me," Ace whispered, "She died because of me. I killed her."

Thatch softens at that, surprise fading. "Ace, you can't blame yourself for that," he says.

"It doesn't matter if I do or not," he says solemnly, "It doesn't change that fact that she died for me. The day I was brought into this world is the day she left it."

"Ace," Marco says firmly, drawing Ace's face up to look at his, "Her death was something you had no control over. Things happen. But that doesn't mean they are your fault."

"But she shouldn't have died," Ace protests, "She shouldn't have sacrificed herself for me. She should have let me die."

And he says it so surely that, for a moment, Marco and Thatch are stunned. It's like Ace _wants_ to die, like he doesn't care about his own life.

Alright," Thatch says sternly, "Is this how you spend your birthday every year? Sulking over something you couldn't have changed?"

Ace chuckles half-heartedly, eyes looking out over the sea. "Almost," he says, "It's just the first year in a long time I've spent this day alone."

Marco and Thatch trade looks over Ace's head.

"Alone? What the heck are we, then? Thatch asks, "Hallucinations?"

Ace laughs, a real, honest laugh. "If you are, you're real good ones!"

"Ha, ha," Marco says drily. From the shore, the three of them hear the sound of cheers goes up. Marco looks up at the moon, checking its position in the sky. "Looks like it's officially the New Year."

"Happy Birthday to me," Ace says softly, setting the flower in his hands alight. He drops it into the sea before grabbing another one from his bag. With this one, he kisses each petal before dropping it into the water. Marco and Thatch silently watch as Ace repeats the process, whispering private thoughts and words into each flower before dropping them into the sea. Soon, there are only three flowers left and, to their surprise, Ace hands each of them one with a small grin. Then the teen takes the last flower and presses it to his lips.

"To nakama," he whispers into the petals.

Marco and Thatch grin before copying their friend and the three of them drop the flowers into the sea. They sit there quietly for a moment, just watching the flowers float on the shallow waves.

Thatch suddenly throws an arm over Ace's shoulders. "So, kid, ready for your party?"

Ace looks up at him and blinks, confused. "My party?" he repeats.

Marco grins. "Of course," the Phoenix says, "You didn't think we'd let you get out of your birthday without one, did you?"

The Demon's head whips around to him, startled, brown eyes wide. "What? But I – Wait – I mean," Ace sputters.

Thatch laughs and hauls the fire user to his feet. "Oh no," he says with a wicked grin on his face, "You're not getting away from us. To the beach!"

The Fourth Division commander proceeds to drag Ace down to where the crew is still partying, Marco trailing after them with a grin on his face.

Sometime later, after the crew has thoroughly parties themselves out, Ace finds himself sitting between Thatch and Marco for the second time that night. The Demon is…happy. Lighter than he's felt in days. His nakama were enthusiastic about his birthday to say the least. Ace has never had so many people celebrate the day of his birth before. First it was only Sabo. Then Luffy came along and Makino and the Mayor followed soon after. Dadan and the guys started putting forth some effort after the whole Bluejam incident. But he's never had something on this scale before. Never have so many people shone joy at the mere fact that he was born.

Marco grins down at him, blue eyes shining knowingly. The Phoenix has always been the best at reading him. And it seems this time is no exception. "You deserved to be celebrated too, Ace," he says.

"Yeah," Thatch pipes in, "Your mom would want you to be happy today. No one likes seeing their loved ones sad."

Ace doesn't say anything, just sits between his friends and soaks up their heat, taking in their presence with a soft, content smile on his face. His Angel may not be here, but, with his nakama beside him, he doesn't think this day has turned out so bad.

* * *

**I'm not sure I like the ending, but I think it came out okay over all. Thoughts?**

**Until next time,  
**

**~Elri  
**


	13. Jealousy

**Hello peoples!  
**

**I know that I've said it a lot by now, but I'm sorry for the delay. This chapter is just a little drabbly thing about why it is a bad idea for Ace to see that people are attracted to Luffy in a romantic sense. I bet you guys have absolutely no idea who I'm talking about. (note the sarcasm)**

**Characters: Luffy, Ace, Strawhat crew, Hancock, Mari, Sonia  
Warnings: There isn't really anything warning worthy...I guess Ace being possessive?**

**Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece. But I own this. So. *casually starts sharpening sword* Steal it at your own risk.**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

_**~Jealousy~**_

_Having an over-aggressive suitor can lead to rather…tense situations._

* * *

The Strawhats really should be used to this by now. 'This' not being anything in particular. Which explains the problem right there. The problem being that anything and everything happens to them without any warning.

So when Shichibukai Boa Hancock shows up out of no where, they really shouldn't be surprised.

They also shouldn't be surprised that out of every man in the world, she's fallen completely head over heels in love with Luffy.

Sanji, naturally, is completely enraged. The rest of the crew, however, just shakes their heads, all of them thinking the exact same thing.

_That poor woman._

And _of course_ while all of this is going on, Ace just happens to decide to visit his brother.

Really, the crew should have seen this coming.

* * *

Ace isn't jealous. He's not. Honest. He's just slightly…disturbed by the image currently being presented to him. Yeah, that's it.

This is _not_ what he expected to see when he boarded his brother's ship.

Not that he's really sure what he was expecting. This is _Luffy's_ ship after all. That simple fact in and of itself is pretty self-explanatory.

He knows – logically – that he should not be surprised that Boa Hancock, that most beautiful woman in the world is on his brother's ship. He knows – logically – that he should not be surprised that Boa Hancock is in love with his Angel. He knows all of that. Logically.

Emotionally, however, is an entirely different matter.

* * *

The crew stares in complete disbelief as Boa Hancock fawns over their captain.

Sanji is off sulking in the corner, while Zoro and Robin both look equal parts amused and resigned.

"We should have totally seen this coming," Usopp mutters to no one in particular.

"Seen what?" Nami asks, "That of all the people to fall in love with that idiot, it would be _her_?"

Usopp shrugs. "Well, given our track record…"

Franky sighs. "Some things really are wasted on him."

"Do you think she would let me see her panties?" Brook asks, only for Nami to knock him over the head.

"Do you think someone should tell her she has no chance?" Zoro asks, arms crossed over his chest, head cocked to the side.

"Why wouldn't she have a chance?"

The crew glances behind them and see Hancock's sisters, Marigold and Sandersonia, standing behind them. They look amused by the interactions of the crew as well as curious.

"Well, for one thing," Nami says, crossing her arms, "It's Luffy."

"That in and of itself should be a good enough explanation," Usopp whispers to Chopper, receiving a stifled giggle in reply.

"And for a second thing," Nami continues, "Well…"

Robin gives the two sisters a serene smile. "The second thing would be Ace," she says calmly.

Mari blinks. "Ace? You mean Fire Fist Ace? Luffy's brother?"

"The one and only," Franky says.

"What does Ace have to do with this?" Sonia asks.

"What do I have to do with anything?"

The Strawhats collectively sigh. Of course.

"I told you we should have seen this coming," Usopp says.

Robin smiles. "Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear," she muses, "Hello, Fire Fist-san."

Ace flashes a grin her way. "Hello, Archeologist-san. So what's going on?"

Nami rubs the back of her neck nervously. "Well…"

"Some crazy lady is in love with your brother," Zoro says bluntly, making Sanji cry louder.

Ace freezes. "Excuse me?" he asks.

Something in his tone makes the crew, with the exception of Zoro and Robin, begin to slowly back away from him. Before anyone can answer Ace or before Mari and Sonia can defend their sister, Luffy's voice echoes across the deck.

"I'm not going to marry you!"

As one, they turn and, sure enough, there's Luffy followed ever so faithfully by Hancock, whose face is flushed and swooning like there's no tomorrow.

Ace's eyes are shaded by his hat and no one can tell what he's thinking. That is, until steam starts rising from his shoulders, quickly evolving into small flames. The crew doesn't even blink and he's next to Luffy, pulling his brother from Hancock's arms and into his own.

He glares darkly at the woman and before she can even form a response, he kisses Luffy full on the mouth right in front of her. Luffy blinks in confusion for a moment before realization kicks in and he kisses back. Hancock stares, horror struck that her sweet, beloved Luffy is kissing someone else. Her sisters aren't much better, their jaws hanging open in shock.

Then Ace pulls away and hisses, "_Mine._"

Hancock somehow manages to recover. "Luffy does not belong to you!" she cries, "As his future wife, I demand you release him immediately!"

"Wife?! No way in hell!"

And then Luffy is shoved behind Ace and towards his crew as the two start screaming at each other.

"Oh my," Robin chuckles, "That escalated rather quickly."

Luffy just smiles. "Shishishishi! Ace's always been like this."

The crew just gives resigned sighs and go about their business as usual.

"Seriously, guys," Usopp says, "We really should have seen this coming."

And they all nod. Because they really should have.

* * *

**Kinda short. But like I said, it was drabbly. The next one will be longer.**

**Until next time,**

**~Elri**


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